PCS members in action, photo Paul Mattsson

PCS members in action, photo Paul Mattsson   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

John McInally, PCS national vice-president (personal capacity)

Begin the fightback now – that was the clear message from PCS conference in response to the election of a majority Tory government.

Cameron’s crooks intend smashing the public sector by ramping up their cuts and privatisation onslaught. Alongside this they are planning the biggest assault on trade union rights since the days of Thatcher; and stripping away civil and human rights.

During conference itself the elite mouthpiece Financial Times announced Osborne intends cutting yet another 100,000 civil service jobs, services already at breaking point will be destroyed on the basis of such vandalism.

In opening the conference, both president Janice Godrich and general secretary Mark Serwotka stressed the need to oppose the government through coordinated union action.

Mark made the point the Tories didn’t win the election but Labour lost it because it failed to provide an alternative to austerity. He went on to argue the electoral system was now broken and called for a step-up in the campaign for proportional representation and called for coordinated action by the unions on the basis of common demands, common negotiations and industrial action strategies.

The conference committed to pursuing the union’s national demands, including: to end the pay freeze, fair and equal pay, no compulsory redundancies, adequate staffing levels, no detriment of terms and conditions, and a return to genuine national bargaining.

Union busting

In the debate on union-busting, conference heard that attempts to break PCS by withdrawal of check-off have failed because PCS has done “something remarkable in signing so many members in such a short period of time” and that the union would emerge “stronger, more independent from the employer, more able to fight back”.

As said in the debate, the Tories “take the trade unions a damned sight more seriously than many trade union leaders themselves do… there is nothing the Tories fear more than industrial action – the most effective form of direct action – the most effective weapon of the working class.”

Conference was outraged to hear Unison officials had contacted former Cabinet Office minister, Frances Maude, without the agreement of civil service unions and had been given national civil service recognition rights by the union-busting thug.

National Gallery strikers' demonstration, 5.2.15, photo Paul Mattsson

National Gallery strikers’ demonstration, 5.2.15, photo Paul Mattsson

This contravened TUC rules and echoed the 1980s when – rather than fighting back against Thatcher – some union leaders engaged in inward-looking and destructive inter-union competition. This is not about poaching (though the senior grade First Division Association has decided it will now try to recruit PCS grades). It is about having agreements between unions, because if not, a free-for-all can only cause division, weaken collective bargaining strength and aid the Tories.

In order to ensure the financial survival of PCS, the left leadership agreed the general secretary’s recommendation to suspend this year’s group and national elections. This emergency measure was recognised as a regrettable but necessary move by most activists and not one letter of complaint was sent by any member.

PCS is one of only two TUC unions that hold annual elections. The leadership, not least Mark and Janice, who actually put their homes on the line in a High Court battle to secure annual elections and secure union democracy, is recognised as one of the most democratic and campaigning in the movement. Despite opposition – including from the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty and the Socialist Workers Party – the leadership convincingly won the debate.

Struggles

Conference gave its full support to the many PCS members in struggle or about to move into struggle.

National Gallery members, having already taken 23 days of action before the general election, voted for a further eleven days after the election, showing a tremendous determination to prevent the privatisation of a national icon by a gang of multi-millionaire philistines who see access to culture as a right only for the wealthy, and then only for “investment”.

Conference expressed its full support for sacked National Gallery activist Candy Udwin and the whole union intends mobilising for the national protest at Trafalgar Square on 30 May.

No union is better prepared to meet the Tory onslaught than PCS. While not minimising the scale of the battles ahead there was a real confidence amongst delegates that there is an alternative to austerity – and that is to struggle.

  • Over 50 delegates attended the Socialist Party fringe meeting which was addressed by the party’s general secretary Peter Taaffe, PCS national vice-president John McInally and NIPSA president Padraig Mulholland. A number of delegates asked to join the party. Over 50 copies of the Socialist were sold with over £1,000 raised for the Socialist Party fighting fund.

This version of this article was first posted on the Socialist Party website on 27 May 2015 and may vary slightly from the version subsequently printed in The Socialist.