Members are aware that the new coalition has already caused chaos within PCS, having created unnecessary delays at the standard setting NEC meeting, seeing serious matters timed out. The emergency NEC saw the coalition label the national president a tyrant as he had the absolute audacity to protect the rules of the union; his duty to the members that elected him. Then came the continued assertions that the previous national campaign was rejected by the membership, and the more scandalous claim that our members won nothing by taking strike action last year, any gains won they believe are ‘paltry’.


What about pay?
In 2023, your Left Unity led NEC succeeded in delivering a campaign which saw the national pay remit more than double, and for the first time in history, a £1,500 cost of living payment negotiated. Though this was less than our demands, it showed the power of collective action as we stood side by side, facing down a hostile Tory government. Our members took unprecedented levels of paid strike action with just three days of unpaid action when there was opportunity for the whole of PCS to protest along with other unions.


The emergency NEC was held to discuss some of the urgent issues that were filibustered by the coalition at the inaugural meeting and as expected, the coalition now brought amendments to the General Secretary’s National Campaign paper. Despite Left Unity NEC members stressing how vital a unified national campaign is to winning for us all, to avoid our employers taking a tactic of divide and conquer, the Broad Left/Independent Left called on their ‘majority’ to support a nonsensical motion that would end the national campaign. Clearly refusing to own their past mistakes (ADC article) where they had misled conference to win the motion that in effect would end the national campaign, the new ‘majority’ on the NEC decided it is more important to give the outgoing NEC a kicking, and the current members of Left Unity on the NEC a continued headache, than to create a well thought out strategic campaign plan that can build on the gains PCS has made. 


The motion tabled by the BLN, seconded by one of their supporters, was passed by their small three vote majority leaving PCS with a two-tier campaign; a reballot of the members that did not clear the threshold last timeout, to run alongside action that they expect will be taken by members in the 62 employer groups that have an existing strike mandate. The coalition hung onto the fact that we can ‘legally have two ballots running’. This of course is true – but anyone with any understanding will recognise that two separate campaigns do not make for a ‘national’ campaign. They believe that two-tier action will deliver the best results.


The coalition flat out refused to await the announcement of the government’s pay remit, their sense being that members want to move to a ballot now, the coalition do not trust the Labour Party yet in saying that also stated in the same contribution that they would want to see affiliation to the Labour Party. Confused? You should be. Certainly since another leading light of the coalition came in to agree with Left Unity on the points made regarding the Labour Party. A coalition of chaos, each working to their political masters be they the Socialist Party or the Alliance for Workers Liberty, there is no coherence, but for in their hatred of Left Unity.


The coalition also pushed for a return to the approach of limited one day unpaid action, despite members from groups with live mandates providing clear accounts of how we can maximise the impact of our campaign with longer term targeted paid action. Also despite members in their thousands telling the union they do not want to move back to unpaid days of protest action.


It is clear this approach is beyond tactically naive and risks dividing our membership, and that demonstrating our industrial strength as a class is the best way to win this fight. Left Unity are clear in our belief that we must do all we can to win any upcoming ballots and deliver the most unified action possible so that we can win. The counter actions are a dereliction of duty on the part of this new majority.


What about the levy?
The coalition decided to continue with the levy again, despite their acknowledging members’ confusion about why it has been reinstated.


It was especially frustrating to hear one member of the alliance offer no positive examples of how we can use the levy while, at the same time, saying it should continue. No recognition has been paid to how member confidence appears to be undermined by the lack of justification for keeping it in place, just vague lip service to a consultation on its implementation.


Left Unity is clear that a levy and the targeted action it supports must play a central role in winning our dispute, but we must ensure that we collect the levy at the right time and allow members to see the benefit that it will achieve. We saw the impact of the targeted paid action in the Border Force last summer. We saw strikes in the Passport Office, Rural Payment Agency and HMRC helpline bring real progress.


Left Unity will continue to fight to ensure the Broad Left Network/Independent Left alliance learn to understand the importance of a wide-based campaign which can have maximum impact.


A clear attack on your elected General Secretary
Not only the pay campaign, the coalition have stooped to a new low in the attacks on the PCS General Secretary.


Members elected Fran Heathcote as General Secretary as she is one of the most-hard working and highly respected figures in the trade union movement. A strong woman, highly experienced in the political arena, members are fully aware that there is no-one better placed in our union to fight for our interests, nationally and especially within the TUC.


It was therefore depressing to see that while Fran, our first woman General Secretary was nominated to sit on the TUC General Council, the coalition nominated a man to replace her. The alliance that has long stated they are ‘not bothered’ about equality, was determined to undermine Fran, remove her as the incumbent from the TUC General Council, and continue to put PCS in a bad light. The coalition were even prepared to have no one from PCS sit on the TUC General Council rather than our General Secretary, in a shameful act of sectarianism.


Left Unity rejects this cheap sectarianism of the alliance which sought to remove Fran, purely because, in the words of one of their members, they didn’t personally vote for her. Your national president ensured that the rules of our Union were upheld to allow our elected General Secretary to speak for all our members in the position on the TUC General Council, and ensured the coalition’s attempts to leave PCS without a voice at TUC were defeated. Fran Heathcote will continue to use this position to directly hold our new government to account over pay.


HMRC Reps receive massive support


The GS moved a paper reiterating the NECs unequivocal support for the sacked and victimised reps in HMRC.


The paper followed discussions the national have held with the victimised reps themselves, their representatives, and the the group, who have created a sub-committee to oversee the campaign for their reinstatement and stop further victimisations.


Disappointingly, the new NEC majority sought to create further division by tabling amendments that would have undermined the group’s sub-committee ability to create their own campaign plan, but common sense prevailed in the best interests of those impacted.


The NEC sits again on 17th of June. Watch this space for further updates. 


If you want to ensure that you have a union that works for you, for your colleagues, and that campaigns to support your families and friends in your communities, please join Left Unity and help us build for better in the coming years.