I am honoured once again to be standing for re-election to the DWP GEC. I am an active in my local branch and in the Scotland region as an organiser for DWP Glasgow and Scotland. I am also a current member of the PCS Scotland Executive Committee. Before my time in DWP Glasgow Branch I was an organiser for the then DWP Clydeside and Argyll Branch and have been an active rep Seventeen years.

In the last year as part of the GEC, we have worked hard to gain improvements for members of the DWP and for Scotland as a whole. I have a track record on delivering and would like to continue my work moving the agenda of Left Unity forward in the department. I have also been involved locally in Anti Racism campaigning for the last year working locally and in conjunction with Stand up to Racism against the far right and against all kinds of hatred and bigotry.

We must continue to push and fight as we have done so over the last year it’s simply unacceptable that we have such chronic low wages. DWP must have a plan for the lowest paid staff and it’s not acceptable that every year AA and AO staff end up being uplifted in April to meet the national living wage now we face the prospect of even some of our EO members having the same. We as the leadership will campaign and fight on this issue with management to improve our terms and conditions.

The staffing campaign will also form part of this strategy as we move forward. Management know we don’t have enough staff to do all the work that we have in this department and with the move 60% hybrid and chronic low pay it’s no wonder that the department is struggling to recruit staff. We need a strong leadership to get us more staff with a pay increase to fix the ongoing issues. Simply putting band aids on the situation has not helped anyone and is only leading to ongoing stress and increased levels of sickness. We need real plans put in place by this department to make sure that staff are looked after having moved to be a UC case manager it has become quite clear how badly the department resources training and we need to work with our learning delivery officers to improve this.

I want to use the skills I have learned in my time working as a rep to continue the work organising for the best ballot turnouts and increasing our strength in the department to deliver for all our members. Driving larger and better turn outs using my skills as a representative and organiser.

Voting for left unity in the upcoming elections will do what members need us to do allow us to have a strong team that can and will work for members on the issues that face them. We need to hold this labour government to account and make sure that they know that we will not just sit quietly and accept crumbs off the table that we need bold leadership and change.  

I ask every member to vote for the strong, experienced and determined Left Unity candidates in the forthcoming DWP group elections.