Bristol job centre workers fight transfer

Last Friday the civil servants’ union, PCS held a meeting in Fishponds, Bristol attended by workers from Job Centre Plus. They were angry at plans for them and other benefit delivery workers to be transferred to call centre work.

This would mean staff taking on work that they would not be adequately trained for and over time would lead to a deskilling of the workforce. Speaking against this, John McInally, PCS vice-president and Socialist Party member, exposed the government’s claims that it would improve benefit delivery to claimants. Currently in Bristol calls are handled in the same office as the processing of claims. Under the new proposals claims would be passed between different offices around the country, potentially delaying the process by a few days. The real reasons for this attack include making it easier to privatise the service.

As a prospective candidate for the new Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) I explained how TUSC was set up to provide a genuine alternative in the general election to the big business parties. There was a good response to this and the idea that trade unions like the PCS need political representation as well as being prepared to fight on as a union.

Tom Baldwin