The NEC results were frustrating from a Left Unity perspective with the Coalition for Change (CfC) candidates winning a majority of seats on a low turnout of 6.4%. Despite the CfC using their outside forces to leaflet buildings and build their vote, the Democracy Alliance (DA) won 14 seats on the NEC, with 12 of the successful candidates being Left Unity (LU) members – making Left Unity still the single largest faction on the NEC.
The subject of conversation between both activists and members though, and in fact leaders from across the movement, has been that PCS moving forward without Martin Cavanagh as President represents a set-back to our campaigning nationally together with other organisations on wider social issues, removing his platform and potentially isolating our General Secretary and individual groups.
As conference arrived however, attesting to his experience and ability, Martin continued to hold the Conference chair, with the same dexterity and good humour as always, allowing for maximum debate and bringing a good comradely response from delegates.
Left Unity in the Groups
The results in the Group elections were generally much better for our candidates. We retained the majority of seats in key groups such as Public Sector Group (PSG), Department for Transport (DfT), and Home Office. In addition Left Unity claimed every single seat on the DWP Group Executive Committee, on a higher percentage turnout, and despite a vitriolic campaign by our opponents in the MOJ Group, DA won all bar one seat. As a result of these Group results we will continue to deliver for members on the day to day issues they face in the workplace in those areas and, as importantly, the Groups will ensure that the NEC understands the will of the membership they are here to represent.
The CfC and its (not very promising) record
Two years ago, the CfC brought chaos to PCS, undermining the General Secretary at every opportunity. In a truly sectarian move they attempted to remove her, our most senior elected official, from the TUC General Council so it remains to be seen now how the CfC will use their majority this year, and whether or not the new National President will work in tandem with the General Secretary.
The early signs on this front are not good as we have already seen the President’s faction move to publicly undermine the General Secretary online; the IL believe it the duty of the NEC to manage PCS staff and are conducting a public campaign on X and other social media outlets to have staffing removed from the General Secretary’s contract.
Readers will remember, during the whole of his time as General Secretary, Fran’s predecessor Mark Serwotka oversaw staffing issues. There was never an attempt to undermine his contract or ways of working – this is a clear and direct attack on our GS because she is Fran Heathcote and the CfC majority on the NEC have taken against her both personally and factionally.
The procedures and principles for filling staff vacancies and postings are properly carried out in accordance with collective agreements with the staff Union. Ask yourself why a newly elected President in post for just over a week would suddenly want to change all that and why she thinks this is her top priority? Imagine the chaos and paralysis that would arise if every staffing appointment had to be agreed by the NEC. We are not elected as line managers, we are elected as trade union reps, to work for members, so it is a strange concept to hear a committee, so hell bent on taking over the management of staff.
It is hoped the new majority will take their attention away from the General Secretary’s contractual duties and put their attention to working with her to take forward the key campaigns that matter to members.
To mention again discussions held on social media, including references to private correspondence, the IL in their naivety believe this is ‘transparency’; their NEC members also believe that the NEC should be televised for all to see – and more lately there has been mention from a CfC member that pay talks should all be open access, with cameras in the room to allow memebrs to see the discussions. We in Left Unity know that there are employers and forces hostile to PCS that are watching social media – they will be following these discussions far more closely than most members will have the time or inclination to do, and will be acting on, and strategising around the content to win against us in every forum.
National Campaign
Whilst our opponents will point to the fact that they won support for most of their votes at conference the real test of their leadership won’t be won on the conference floor but what they can agree on and deliver for members.
ADC carried their resolution (A5) on their National Campaign which as acknowledged in their contributions was mainly a repeat of last year’s motion. A383 included the move to a national statutory ballot in September. Left Unity delegates argued that this rigid formulaic approach took no account of changing factors on the ground.
It is unfortunately the case that the anti-union law of requiring a 50% membership turnout in a fully postal ballot has prevented us from securing a legal mandate in our largest membership groups in many cases including this year in the DWP. The government are considering in the next phase of their workers rights legislation removing the 50% requirement and allowing electronic on-line balloting. These changes could be introduced as early as October.
The National Education Union (NEU) have constructed a National ballot timetable running from October to December with a view to commencing any industrial action early in 2027.
It’s also the case that our Group leadership in the Home Office have recently concluded a multi-year pay deal which has been enthusiastically received by their members. Members who were key to our National industrial action plans in 2022-23.
We believe that should a national ballot be necessary that you would want to ensure its timing was at the most favourable time to achieve a positive outcome and to co-ordinate it with other supportive Unions to maximise the impact upon the Government.
The CfC majority would also have to convince members that financial support for those taking prolonged periods of action would be provided. Having blocked efforts by the General Secretary to reach a consensus on a long-term solution to build our Fighting Fund in the run up to ADC they are left with the prospect of reintroducing a membership levy which became discredited during their last period as the NEC majority.
The 2026-7 Pay Remit guidance was published shortly after ADC accompanied by a short factual statement from the General Secretary summarising the headline figures and encouraging Group negotiators to go into their separate negotiations and use the extra money that has been made available to maximise the benefits for our members primarily in the lowest paid grades.
The General Secretary’s statement was met with a tirade of criticism from CfC supporters including some of their newly elected NEC members. These included criticism of welcoming a 3.5% headline remit figure – the joint highest achieved across the Public Sector – as an improvement on a 2.8% which was being widely considered to be the figure the government would settle on.
Among the criticisms of CfC candidates have been that the National Campaign had been ended and dissolved into unproductive talks with the employer. It is therefore good to see that the remit also allows for extra monies to be used to tackle grade compression from AA to EO arising from annual National Living Wage increases and the opportunity to move pay settlement dates to 1 April each year as a step towards achieving a more coherent national pay structure for all of our members. These were both key demands from our National Campaign achieved this year from talks led by our General Secretary.
Whilst our opponents are spending their time engaging in social media wars against the General Secretary and her staff our negotiators at Group level will be getting on with the job of putting improved pay opportunities into members pockets – if the new NEC allows them to.
Data Access
Three motions from CfC Allies called for increased access to individual membership data including personal mobile numbers to be made routinely available to PCS reps for the purpose of campaigning and organising work. Undoubtedly a lot of our reps would see the benefits of this and there is no suggestion that the majority of reps would use this information irresponsibly.
We highlighted that there are still serious risks with this though. Mobile phone numbers are personal data and there are tight laws about usage under GDPR regulations. Breaches can be met with large fines, over a million pounds in many cases for serious breaches. One CfC NEC member casually dismissed this as being “worth it” during the ADC debates. It only takes one complaint for a breach to be investigated either by the ICO or an employer so this cavalier attitude may have more far reaching consequences for reps as well as the finances of the Union.
We also fear that many members may not welcome their local reps having access to their personal numbers without their permission and that they may discourage them from providing such information to the Union in the first place.
Political Strategy
The political situation in the Country is particularly volatile at this time. The serious threat posed to our members by increased support for Reform UK and the political response to it are important as are the relationships we build with the Government as our employer, with all of their imperfections, and the PCS cross Party Parliamentary group.
PCS has never sought or been affiliated to any Political Party and many of our members see their role as Civil Servants as politically impartial in the workplace.
That doesn’t mean we can’t campaign on political issues that impact upon our members and the outgoing NEC set out a comprehensive plan an strategy for doing so in motion A344. The Broad Left Network set out their position in motion 345 which contained the additional instruction to “take a lead in discussions with other unions as to how this policy can be implemented by giving support to the creation of a new socialist anti-austerity workers party and make proposals to ADC 2027” and to use our political fund for “supporting candidates for election who support our union and policies and priorities” based upon a policy that was agreed over a decade ago. This in practice would mean using members money and union resources to support candidates from in most cases fringe parties something which during the political fund ballot last year PCS gave a commitment that we would not do without a full membership ballot.
The Independent Left don’t support this policy but restricted their comments in the debate to attacking support for “Stand Up to Racism” in the NEC motion which was carried anyway. Faced with it being defeated the BLN member agreed to remit A345 to the NEC which Conference agreed to. This debate provided early indications of the fault lines that will emerge in the CfC when they come to try and implement these into a coherent political strategy for the Union going into a politically challenging climate.
Union rules
We know from our experience of their last tenure that the CfC are extremely keen to try and use their NEC majority to rewrite the rules of the Union without proper recourse to Conference, in particular the two thirds majority requirement which provides important checks and balances to rule changes for narrow factional advantage.
ADC debated a motion calling for a loosening of legal advice to print motions which may lead to the Union or individuals within it being challenged with breaches of the law. Their members of the Conference Standing Orders Committee published a minority statement suggesting that motions in this category should be published and it be for Conference delegates (who mostly aren’t lawyers) to decide. Our ADC attracts some interest from a mostly hostile Media who would very quickly exploit these situations and reps could be exposed to action from their employers. As a rule change the motion required a two-thirds majority but got nowhere near to achieving this following both a show of hands and a card vote. Further motions seeking to restrict the powers of the National President amongst others didn’t get heard, but again demonstrate where their priorities for our Union lie.
Our Left Unity members elected to the NEC, alongside our Democracy Alliance comrades, will be doing their best to hold them to account and ensure the focus of the Union is towards member facing issues, not factional political advantage. Our Group leaders will also be getting on with the job of negotiating improvements and pushing back attacks from the employer in workplaces up and down the country.
If that’s the kind of Union you want to see then join with us. Contact PCS Left Unity to help us keep our union’s strength, focus, and integrity intact; and help us win for members while continuing to grow our union.