For DWP Treasurer

I am seeking election to the position of DWP Group Treasurer in the forthcoming DWP Group Election, I believe I have a proven track record to undertake this important role as I was the DWP Group Treasurer for more than decade, in my period of officership I introduced formal written reports, detailed accounts, built a stong working relationship and trust and respect with our regional treasuers and regions as well as proactively working our full time offiicials and the national finance sub commitee, I am proud to have worked closely with several Group Presidents to guide the group through difficult financial times introducing efficiencies to help us better support our members, I have also served on the GEC including as GECLO so you know I can work closely with all fellow GEC members and help deliver key national amd group priorities 

I am proud to have been an activist in PCS and its predecessor union CPSA for almost 30 years, I became a rep initially to ‘just cover health and safety’ at my site, I soon became full involved in my branch executive and have since held union roles including branch treasurer, branch chair, regional equality officer as well as many years on the DWP GEC including the role of Group Treasurer, currently I am branch asst sec, H+S rep, regional secretary and on the Group BM advisory committee

I am especially proud of my time as a member of the Group BM Committee member including chairing that committee and my time as the DWP delegate to the National BMs Forum and only had to step down as the constitution stipulated GEC members could not stand for that role, PCS has enabled me to push forward the equality, diversity above all the anti-racism agenda, I am proud to be the 1st BME Regional Officer in my DWP Region, as you will see all this demonstrates my absolute  commitment to representing our members at every level

My background is that my parents came to the UK in the late 1960s and we initially lived in Lancashire before moving to Leicester, my family and I are not ashamed to say we are economic migrants, we came for a better life and this is no different to what humanity has done from the dawn of time, having lived through the 1970s / 80s, my family and I are fully aware of the challenges of racism, xenophobia and sadly more recently Islamophobia, these experiences have moulded me to always fight for justice, tolerance and doing my part to make the world a little better, it saddens me as I write this to hear of appalling right wing hateful behaviours outside a refugee centre in Merseyside clearly the fight to eradicate hate continues and I know PCS led by a LU leadership will continue to be at the forefront of the fight against hate and division

I have been a Left Unity member for almost all the years I have been a union activist, I was fortunate to come from a branch and region with strong LU credentials, to me it was very simple Left Unity values are my values these include social justice, equality, tolerance, supporting the public sector and above all supporting our hard won public services that support the vulnerable.

The single most critical challenge we have is ensuring our members have fair and reasonable pay, it is a shocking fact that from April over 40,000 civil servants will get an increase in pay because the law demands the government must comply with the National Living Wage , this is the reality of over a decade or more of pay stagnation, it no wonder that so many of our hard working members have to rely on state benefit top ups and in extreme cases food banks, in DWP PCS members are forced to claim the very benefits they help administer, our members deserve pay dignity 

All members are deservedly very angry and have just delivered phenomenal strike action on the 1st February this will be followed by further strike action on Budget Day 15th March, be in no doubt members will again show the Tory government on 15th March how angry they are about the raw deal we have to endure

PCS is not alone over half a million other workers are also taking action, all workers are united and there is a positive mood of resilience across the UK, the public firmly backs the workers not the super-rich Tories whose only claim is how many millionaires and billionaires sit on the Cabinet, never has a government been so out of touch with the harsh reality of living conditions of the working class    

We can be proud that a LU led leadership has seen PCS grow with increased membership in recent weeks and months as well as unprecedented media coverage about the plight of our hard working members, this is sure testament that members support the current well thought out rational LU strategy on pay, pensions justice, job security and attacks on redundancy terms

The National Campaign is far too important it impacts every single member, we must all work together and deliver a LU leadership of winning for our members, no one said it was going to be easy, it never is that’s why we call it a struggle but strong coherent leadership will win the gains and protection our members so rightly deserve, together we are stronger

Bashir Chilwan