Marion Lloyd, PCS NEC member
The race is on for who will lead the PCS union in the coming year, as the National Executive Committee (NEC) nominations have closed. The candidates supported by the Broad Left Network (BLN – in which the Socialist Party participates) have won up to 67 branch nominations, compared to those received by the outgoing majority Left Unity/Democracy Alliance, whose nominations have reduced right down to 58 and less.
Nominations for outgoing president Martin Cavanagh have plummeted from 71 last year to only 56 this year. This can only be interpreted as further disengagement from reps and members on the ground to a leadership that is not prepared to fight on the key issues that matter.
The elections in April are a chance for PCS members to vote for a serious fighting and democratic leadership. This is crucial if we are to respond effectively to the attacks from Starmer’s Labour government against the workers he promised to “respect” when he took up office.
PCS organises workers in the civil service and outsourced government contracts. Thousands of jobs continue to be cut across UK government, with knock-on impacts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is moving forward with its plan to lose 25% of jobs, as is the Cabinet Office which has announced a 30% reduction. Other areas are following suit and, coupled with attacks on pay, conditions and office space, that “respect” has been in short supply.
Strikes continue to break out right across the union, including in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Palace of Westminster, Ofgem and the Office for National Statistics.
And most recently we have the disgrace of our pensions administrator being moved to Capita – laying on open display the impact of privatisation on service delivery and workers alike. Coupled with the movement of our payroll from French giant Steria to Capita, not only have no lessons been learned, but it also exposes the lie that Starmer’s Labour would herald ‘the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation’.
What has been the response to all of this from the current PCS Left Unity/Democracy Alliance NEC? Despite the carriage of motion A383 at PCS conference last year, which instructed the NEC to build a serious campaign on jobs, pay, conditions and the other many issues we are facing, the silence has been deafening.
The increasing numbers of disputes across the union have been left to fight in isolation rather than being coordinated and used as a platform to launch a badly needed national campaign capable of winning. This lack of activity cannot continue.
Choice in this election is clear – one that wants to mobilise the membership to win, or one that has demonstrated its will to do nothing.
- Vote for the BLN-supported candidates in the upcoming national and group elections. The voting for the NEC runs from 16 April to 8 May, group elections 23 April to 13 May.
