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From The Socialist newspaper, 20 November 2019
PCS union: elect Marion Lloyd!
Marion Lloyd, photo Mary Finch, photo Mary Finch (Click to enlarge)
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union general secretary ballot has started and it closes on 12 December. With the pressing issues of low pay, job cuts, office closures and pensions it is vital that the union has a fighting general secretary to champion members' interests.
Socialist Party member Marion Lloyd, with 39 branch nominations, is the best placed candidate to beat the incumbent, Mark Serwotka. A growing number of activists are uniting behind her to make this happen. A few of them, in a personal capacity, explain why.
"Marion Lloyd is committed to delivering a programme of action that puts lay reps, PCS members, and the working class front and centre. I have watched as the senior leadership of PCS become ever more content to let full-time unelected officers take control of union activities over lay reps, often with the result of quashing any dissent or alternative viewpoints - even to the extent that Mark Serwotka backed an full-time offficer against the elected candidate of his own faction for assistant general secretary. Marion as general secretary would be a true servant of the national executive committee and wider union."
Fiona Brittle, PCS national executive committee member
"For Marion the words 'equality is at the heart of everything we do' is not just an empty phrase but core to her work as a trade unionist and a socialist. In her unwavering support for trans rights, when some in our movement are attacking the community, she has shown the personal strength and moral fibre to oppose those would divide, not unite, us."
Saorsa Tweedale, branch chair PCS DWP Bradford
"Marion is one of the most hard-working and dedicated lay activists I have come across. She is the longest serving current group president and has been a constant support to me as we fought two successful campaigns against privatisation.
"Now, having lost two national ballots on pay, we need a fresh look at tactics and campaigning. I believe that Marion provides this, as has been evidenced by her leadership in the latest successful BEIS [the government's business department] dispute.
"Marion can re-energise PCS as a campaigning union that wins for members."
Michael Kavanagh President PCS Land Registry
- Meanwhile, some supporters of Mark Serwotka have resorted to personal attacks on Marion and peddling lies about her fighting programme and her record in the union. A reply to these critics can be read at socialistparty.org.uk
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In The Socialist 20 November 2019:
What we think
High Court injunction: solidarity to the CWU
CWU - ground laid for an almighty struggle
Climate change
Major funding for flood risk management needed
NHS
Save the NHS: kick out the Tories
Frimley NHS Trust: Strikers remain determined to defeat privatisation
Violence against women
What policies are needed to end domestic violence and abuse?
Socialist Party news and analysis
Broadband: privatisation has failed to deliver, time for a socialist plan
Bolton university fire: government inaction puts safety at risk
Wages flatline, while shareholders profit
Workplace news and analysis
UCU pay and pension strike: university staff have had enough
West Midlands Trains: guards strike to defend safety-critical role
PCS union: elect Marion Lloyd!
Cleaners strike over low pay at Haringey secondary school
Bradford library and museum strikers enter third round of strike action
Long hours in the world of security
NEU members' sixth-form walkouts
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Secret police infiltration of workers' movement exposed
150 protest against Leicester hospital downgrading attack
Carmarthenshire union demands no-cuts budget
Swansea: students protest against Hillary Clinton hypocrisy
Keep the National Poetry Library free
Readers' opinion
International socialist news and analysis
Amazon bosses defeated in Seattle - Kshama Sawant reelected
Chile revolt continues: read eyewitness report
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