In April the coalition formed of BLN/IL/Coalition for Change supporters promised PCS members a change of approach based on more “industrial militancy” if elected with a majority to the NEC.

Some activists feared this would mean repeated calls for unpaid industrial action in accordance with their previous “strategy”, especially after the passage of Motion A315 effectively ended the coherence of the previous co-ordinated national campaign. We have not seen any industrial action called and have instead only seen chaos.

The chaos has included instructing the General Secretary to write multiple letters to the Cabinet Office without any serious tactical considerations; replacing their promised “industrial militancy“ with demands for a Special Delegate Conference of reps, rather than agree a full consultation with members – as recommended by the General Secretary; and numerous u-turns on decisions they initially made and were then forced to backtrack on in the face of the industrial reality that confronts them in leadership.

Of course, Left Unity warned that this was to be expected from an alliance formed of different political persuasions, but one that also included some people with no real politics.

Coalition of Chaos reaches new low

Rather than focus on their alleged strategy on how to win more for members and build the union, virtually every recent article written either by the “NEC Majority”, BLN, or IL, has been straight from personalisation handbook.

The content is mainly aimed at the character assassination of either the elected General Secretary, Fran Heathcote, or National President, Martin Cavanagh – the most senior elected lay representative.

Previous Left Unity articles have sought to correct some of the false narrative that has been “put to print”, but we have also set out our position on the key issues affecting members, such as the levy, which we continue to argue should be paused https://pcsleftunity.org/2024/09/16/pcs-left-unity-says-pause-the-levy-now/, and delegated pay talks, which we had to force our opponents to concede that PCS should take part in.

Sadly, over the weekend supporters of the ”NEC majority” have reached a new low.

No longer enough to create a false picture of both Fran and Martin, they have now resorted to public accusation that we cannot let go unchallenged.

The accusation that the elected General Secretary of our union has abused her position to create jobs for her friends, and in doing so placed the union’s finances in jeopardy, is beyond reprehensible.

It is bad enough to publicly make accusations that do not hold up to scrutiny, but to then encourage others to share it widely, with the clear intention of causing reputational damage is scandalous behaviour from so-called activists.

This, though, is what happens when serious trade union activism is replaced with personal grudges.

The truth

Despite what has been stated as fact in these postings the truth is very different.

It is true that the General Secretary has commissioned and subsequently conducted, a review of PCS staffing. This was reported to the NEC when it was first decided to carry out the review, earlier this year.

It is also true that the review resulted in new posts being created (23 in total), including the creation of two new Chief of Staff roles. There were other structural changes flowing from the review, including removing 22 posts that are no longer required.

The full review, which affects the staff who work for and are paid by PCS – not the elected bodies that run our union – was subject to full and open consultation with the staff’s own union, the GMB, and resulted in a collective agreement.

The review was then also presented to the Policy and Resources Committee (PRC), a senior NEC sub-committee, to whom staffing and resources matters are reported, as has been the case for the last 20 years.

It is simply untrue that there has been no consultation or scrutiny of the review.

It is also untrue, and a shocking accusation, that the two individual PCS employees who have taken up the two new senior FTO roles, have been simply placed into them by the General Secretary.

Once the review had been to both the staff’s own union for consultation and the PRC, an advert was placed by PCS for the two roles under fair and open competition, following the same process as other FTO adverts.

The two successful candidates, approved by a panel under the full scrutiny of the union’s HR department, were Paul O’Connor and Lynn Henderson. They were not “placed” into the roles as the General Secretary’s “friends”.

Concentrate on what you’re elected to do

The tactic of personal attack on senior elected figures within our union, and the brilliant staff PCS employ, has been increasingly used in recent times, and has been a particular feature in both the elections for the GS/AGS positions last year, and the NEC earlier this.

In recent months that has ramped up even further, but this latest attack reaches new depths.

Left Unity believe the only rationale for it is to attempt to give the coalition an electoral advantage, as they hope “mud sticks”. It is also the case that if they can create such a hostile environment that it puts members off from engaging in their union and voting in elections, it increases their chances of holding onto or even increasing their majority after next year’s elections.

We urge members not to be put off by these attempts to undermine the integrity of our union or our elected leaders. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Left Unity also invites the coalition to reassess their values and refocus their attention onto the issues that matter to our members and stop the personalisation of their attacks. Open debate and challenge is not only acceptable, it should be expected in a democratic organisation, but character assassination has no place in our union or our movement; and we call on both BLN and IL to distance themselves from these outrageous attacks, and reign in any of their supporters who take part in this abhorrent behaviour.

Our members deserve so much better than “NEC majority” are offering right now, and is why Left Unity will continue to campaign on behalf of members rather than resort to personalised attacks. The latest BLN bulletin, after another series of attacks against the President and General Secretary, finishes with a rallying call of “Forward to a Special Delegate Conference, defend democracy in PCS!” Really?! Is that the battle cry of the so-called forces of militancy?! Is that the serious industrial strategy that will drive the membership agenda forward?!

Left Unity rejects this narrow, self-serving strategy, and it highlights the thinking of the coalition to all who read it. They are more focused on championing an expensive get together for themselves and their mates, than they are on tackling the issues that matter to our members.

Left Unity says forget this vanity project so we can genuinely move forward. Forward to better pay and rights for our members, with a paused levy and a national consultation of the PCS membership about our national campaign.

PCS members in DWP have reacted with disappointment and anger at the pay offer announced on Monday 14th October.

DWP has firmly established itself as a minimum wage employer, with the AA and AO grades both qualifying for the National Living Wage uplift in April for the last two years. Following the publication of the first Treasury remit in decades that sees an average figure above inflation, there was some hope at least that this year’s award would see the lowest paid given an above average pay rise, as has been the case in the other departments, such as Home Office and HMRC. Sadly, DWP have squandered the opportunity to do more for their lowest paid workers, and has instead given a larger percentage increase to members near the minimum of the SEO and G7 pay scales.

This, despite soundings from the Cabinet Office that the Civil Service should not be a minimum wage employer, and the remit guidance allowing departments to submit a business case to address chronic low pay issues.  DWP refused to agree PCS continued calls for a business case to be submitted.

What the offer means for our members

Despite the efforts of the group negotiators, who managed to force DWP to move some way from their original position of below 5% awards for AA-HEO, no consolidated increase for all legacy staff, and 9.45% for those SEO & G7 staff who now have 6%, this award still represents a real kick in the teeth for the vast majority of DWP staff, the overwhelming majority of whom are in the AO and EO grades.

Once again, if forecasts are accurate, all AA and AOs on the national scale will require the NLW uplift next April, members refuse to accept this this, and can see through the “sweetener” that is the bonus pot being weighted towards them, and ‘put in their pockets for Christmas’.

It is also a reality that as EOs have been denied even a sweetener, seeing their bonus reduced to £90, those on the national scale will also move closer to the NLW figure come next April. This once again highlights the importance of the national union’s demand for an overhaul of the discredited Civil Service pay systems, and a return to national pay bargaining.

Of course, the 5% remit was never going to allow departments to fix decades of a broken pay system across Whitehall, but Left Unity knew that already, as did our members on the NEC, and engaging with our members should have been the priority.

Missed opportunity

Left Unity also knew, however, that the small number of members we currently have covered by a live strike mandate, would not provide leverage enough to force the government to up the 5% pay remit.  This was a point unanimously agreed by the NEC and the National Disputes Committee (NDC) both committees being heavily represented by the BLN/IL/Coalition for Change majority.

That same self-proclaimed ‘NEC majority’, rather than agree to delegated talks and a consultation with the membership across the union, having initially thwarted the opening of delegated talks, have subsequently focused all their attention on asking branches to hold EGMs to support their call for a costly Special Delegate Conference; a conference that will see our members subs paying for their vanity project, allowing them to once again debate their so called strategy amongst themselves rather than with the members that are sitting in the workplace.

Remember, following their initial decision to refuse to authorise the commencement of delegated pay talks, it took a letter from the DWP GEC to the General Secretary, and a Senior Lay Reps Forum voicing their disagreement, to push the ‘NEC majority’ to backtrack. Thankfully the Lay Reps agreed with the Left Unity NEC members that it was imperative that we were able to enter talks, and the ‘majority’ were forced to agree to departmental pay teams entering negotiations, the very day before DWP talks began. This allowed our negotiators to attend and block the move by DWP to funnel all of the money from the 5% pot to the higher grades.

The blame game disrespects members’ plight

Incredibly, rather than focus their anger on the DWP for failing to deliver what was affordable within the 5% remit, or acknowledge the truth of the matter, that at a longer term campaign would be required to shift the Cabinet Office remit upwards, the Independent Left have immediately moved to their tried and trusted formula of blaming Left Unity for everything that goes wrong. IL’s refusal to accept that the offer, as bad as it is, would have been even worse had we vacated a seat at the table, and looking to personally attack the National President for his elected role, to uphold the union’s rules on the NEC, rules that they continually attempt to breach, misses the point and does our members a disservice.

Less than a week after those in different political factions elected on to the DWP Group Executive, united to condemn the employer and government for not delivering more for members, we now see the IL look to blame Left Unity rather than focus their attention on building a campaign within DWP.

That is what is needed now, a strong and united campaign, not cheap sectarian point scoring. The truth is that our union should have been out of the blocks weeks ago, consulting members and testing their views on the remit and their mood to fight for more once delegated talks had ended.  The NEC were blocked by the ‘majority’ from speaking to members, blocked from negotiators being provided with guidance for the talks, and now we see them making a concerted effort to divide PCS when we should be united against the employer.

We do not have the luxury of waiting any longer. Left Unity supports the unanimous decision of the DWP GEC to reject the offer and use the time our negotiators have secured for members meetings to speak to as many members across the group as possible, to articulate what PCS have demanded and how we can campaign together, to win better for you.

PCS members and reps may have seen calls from the NEC Majority and the Broad Left Network for the convening of a Special Delegate Conference to determine next steps for the National Campaign. Here we set out why Left Unity believes its time the members were consulted directly.

Pause the Levy

Organising reports from across the Union reveal a significant increase in members leaving the Union citing either the levy or the general increased cost of membership as the reason for this. Some Groups and branches are reporting these factors to now be a serious barrier to recruiting new members as well. 

Read more on the levy here

Campaign strategy

Current members with an industrial action mandate voted in the Spring of this year. PCS ADC carried a motion which tabled a new set of demands. This effectively created a second dispute with the employer for the majority of our members in the largest PCS Groups.

Since these developments at ADC there has been a change of Government and the publication of the Civil Service pay remit of 5% which should deliver above inflation pay increases for most of our members.

The General Secretary tabled proposals to place key demands on the new government, to consult Groups on specific bargaining priorities for their departments based on this, and crucially to have a full membership consultation on the levy and the way forward for our campaign including a further national ballot should members determine that the offers they have received are not good enough.

What would a Special Delegate Conference achieve?

Our Opponents are calling for a Special Delegate Conference (SDC) to determine a way forward.   What’s wrong with this approach? 

The time and cost necessary to organise such an event creates further delays. There would be a series of different motions with varying positions from Branches to discuss. At our ADC in May two whole sections of the ADC agenda were lost whilst arguing over priorities. Concerns have already been raised that this would be the case again at an SDC.

Left Unity is also concerned that an SDC could be used as a platform to undermine the elected General Secretary and President and circumvent the Union’s rules, rather than decide a genuine way forward for the national campaign.

The NEC majority’s sectarianism is creating a paralysis at the top of the union which an SDC would perpetuate.  Left Unity say that members should be directly consulted now to move us on from this.

Members should be consulted

Left Unity believe that a full membership consultation is now important given the changed circumstances since PCS ADC in May – the progression of pay talks at Departmental level in parallel with national talks with the new Government to seek longer term solutions (including pay restoration) and for a single new national dispute be created if that is what members want and that the levy be suspended until such time as this consultation is concluded.

The Alliance for Change are using their NEC majority to vote down these proposals and deny members their right to be consulted. Is that the change that members who voted for them wanted to see?  Why don’t they want members to decide?