It has been a privilege to serve as a National Vice President of PCS as well Group President for MoJ. I am asking for your support as I stand for re-election as PCS National Vice President.

I have many years of experience as a PCS Representative and senior key negotiator. I represent members individually as well as collectively in high level negotiations. I’m crown court clerk based in the North-East, where I witness daily the results poverty has, on society and our members and potential members.

In absolute honesty the desire to continue with the National levy has been staggering given it is against wishes of the majority of ordinary union members. It shows a disconnect and I believe we must listen to our members, not continually ignoretheir views to do so is  ethically indefensible.  I am a Democrat and proud to be a member of the Democracy Alliance. I have engaged with ordinary members who speak in their 1000s asking for a pause in the levy and we must as a democratic union act for members on their instruction.

 This demonstrates why it is of primary importance to be visible to members and to listen to their thoughts and views. To this end, I engage regularly in one-to-one conversations with members as well as with large groups of members. I ask them what matters to them. It is only by listening to their concerns and opinions and acting not ignoring these concerns we can achieve unity. By learning of and from members experiences we can truly represent their needs. That is the way to understand what is important to a member and to support and fight with members to achieve those things. I have never sat apart from members I am with them. As an EO in a Crown Court I am also impacted by the things impacting them and I am genuinely fuelled by a desire to improve collectively our working lives.

I am a fervent believer in equality this underpins everything be that on pay terms etc or as an individual. It cannot be just that our members doing similar roles get different pay dependent on which department they work in or their gender. If elected I will continue to fight for equal pay, pay parity and a race to the top not the bottom of pay.

As individuals we can only say we have achieved equality when there is no need of equality groups. As that is a way off yet, so we must keep going.   As Vice President and Chair of the women’s committee I have built up engagement to link it in with organising and campaigning. Women make up over 60% of members and almost 70% of workers. I have worked around the barriers and obstacles that women members have, in order to ensure participation in the Union and by doing do this giving them a greater voice. It is vital that women see their concerns are heard and that they are treated favourably. It is important that in the Union the NEC is reflective of its workforce so it can fully represent its members. In a lay led union everyone has a voice. The DA ensures those voices are heard and never ignored in favour outside political influence. As chair of the women’s committee I have organised and led events for members which demonstrate the huge array of things we cover in PCS  I have organised the women’s committee events with inspirational guest speakers and we have tackled subjects that many shy from, pregnancy loss for example. At the equality seminar all genders were invited to the workshop which was well subscribed and if elected I will continue work on this and on developing PCS policy and using my position on the Womens TUC as a platform to reach others.             

 If re-elected I wish to continue with the work on the all the things that matter to members; not limited to, but including pay parity Job security, health and safety, well-being and equality. I will continue to act altruistically for members in all areas and to protect jobs, work on fair policy and, protect terms.

I thrive on meeting members and talking with them so I can truly be their voice and representative both as Vice President of the NEC and as MoJ Group President. I am proud to be a part of this team, the Democracy Alliance, I listen and act and I am not afraid to adopt and adapt following members discussions and consultation.

Thank-you for reading this. I am standing because I wish to remain a voice for the worker and because I believe in power the collective voice can give to our members. Continuity, experience and a strong track record are vital for PCS to continue to grow and thrive. I along with the other members can deliver the very best for members so please vote for myself and all Democracy Alliance candidates.