County court admin worker and PCS union rep
10th July 2014 PCS strikers in Trafalgar Sq, photo Judy Beishon

10th July 2014 PCS strikers in Trafalgar Sq, photo Judy Beishon   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Around 75% of the staff in my office are women, something which is reflected throughout the civil service. This is because unions played a critical role in the creation of the public sector as we know it. As a result of a continued strong union presence we have some of the best workplace terms and conditions, including part-time working and flexible hours, as well as statutory maternity leave. However, due to the Tory government’s austerity agenda all of this is now under threat.

In June 2015 Tory chancellor George Osborne announced £249 million was to be cut from the Ministry of Justice budget and this is what I see day in, day out.

Cost cutting means that the courts are run on what is fast approaching a skeleton staff. While our workload is steadily increasing, management uses corporate jargon to convince us that these cuts are all about efficiency.

It doesn’t take a genius to see through the lies. Workplace stress and time off for anxiety and depression are commonplace. There aren’t enough staff to cover absences and parents are forced to scrap over annual leave during school holidays just to spend time with their kids.

All of this means that the service we provide to the public is shocking. We can’t handle the phone calls on top of the backlog of admin work, so arrears build up. In the rush to get things done work gets missed and errors are made. The knock-on effect is that people get their notices late, are given misinformation, and miss their hearing dates and deadlines. These delays disadvantage those who cannot afford solicitors or court costs. There is no access to justice for the poor.

We are subjected to productivity monitoring and ‘performance management’. This deflects attention from the root cause while getting rid of staff alongside an ever more discriminatory sickness policy. Since the start of the year everyone I have represented has been female. These include a young Muslim woman suffering the aftermath of a failed abortion and a woman involved in a serious car accident.

Without the union, these women would be on the scrap heap. The most vulnerable are being picked off as easy targets but we are all stressed, overworked, undervalued and underpaid. Our wages have been frozen for almost nine years. I can’t even begin to think about running a car, taking on a mortgage or starting a family, and if things stay as they are now that will never change.

But PCS is a fighting union with a socialist leadership. At the National Gallery and the Land Registry our members have had fantastic successes in striking against privatisation, but we need to stop austerity full stop.

The money exists in society for decent jobs and decent wages, but while the billionaire class sets the agenda it will continue to be workers who pay.