I am seeking re-election as Group Assistant Secretary.

I have been a rep and a member of Left Unity for 19 years. I became the first female Chair of the DWP Glasgow Branch in 2015, and held this position until stepping down in 2022.

I was elected as Chair of the PCS Scotland Committee in 2022, before being elected as co-convenor of the newly established Scottish Executive Committee in 2024. Having previously sat on the Devolved Areas Committee as an NEC member, I was involved in setting up the SEC, and it was an honour to take up this role, and to be re-elected this year.

I was elected to the National Executive Committee in 2021, and was a member until last year when the Coalition of Chaos gained a majority on the NEC.

I was elected onto the Group Executive Committee in 2019. I was co-opted to the role of Group Journal Editor in 2020, and elected to this post in 2021, before being elected as Group Assistant Secretary in 2022.

I have been involved in a variety of Equality Committees throughout my time as a rep. I currently sit on the National Women’s Forum, and I also represent PCS on the STUC Women’s Committee. The SEC are also working to reinvigorate the equality networks in Scotland. I believe our members are the lifeblood of our union, and that we should be representative of all of our members.

As Group Assistant Secretary I have responsibility for consulting with Universal Credit, Work Services, Working Age, and Accessibility, Disability & Disputes directors, meeting with the advisory committees for these directorates to establish the issues to take forward, as well as meeting the employer at Departmental TUS level. I also have responsibility for Scottish Social Security, and I sit on the Pay Team. I have also recently assumed joint responsibility for the Editor role alongside Joe Perry due to the elected Editor having stepped down.

As part of my remit covering UC, I had been contacted on a daily basis about issues withing UCR. Meetings have been held with UCR management to help to resolve these issues, and members briefings issued to update on these. I still receive correspondence, but to a lesser extent, which is an indication that there has been some improvement following intervention by the Group Officers.

I have been trained in the JEGS process and am using this to look at grading in a number of directorates, alongside other officers.

The Left Unity led GEC has worked tirelessly throughout the year to defend our members’ rights. We hear from members and reps on a daily basis about how the work is piling up and there is not enough staff to do the job. Our members are telling us that they are at breaking point, and we continue to push for a resolution.

Last year’s pay remit had been delayed, partly due to the General Election, however when it was announced the pay team prepared to enter into talks. The “majority left” on the NEC decided to prevent pay teams from entering into pay talks despite the pay remit being above inflation. Our GEC was amongst the many groups and activists who forced them to reconsider this decision. If this hadn’t happened PCS would have had an empty seat at the table, while Prospect and FDA negotiated for their members. Having finally been given permission to enter into talks, our pay team met with the employer. The offer at this first meeting was heavily weighted in favour of the higher grades, with some of our lowest paid members set to receive no award at all. The other unions were happy to accept this, while PCS pay team argued that this was unacceptable, as were able to get some movement at each meeting. Unfortunately the final offer, whilst far better than what it had been for the lower grades, was still not acceptable, and our GEC voted unanimously to reject this. However, the only reason these members received any pay rise was thanks to a Left Unity led GEC and pay team.

We know that this year’s pay remit is unlikely to be anywhere near what was given last year, and there may be a need to ballot once again for national action, however we also know that the levy which was kept in place by the “majority left” until recently has caused a lot of anger and upset amongst the membership. Our GEC had voted unanimously to write to the General Secretary to demand a pause, alongside many groups, activists and members. Left Unity has been calling for this pause as part of our commitment to members due to no action taking place as part of the national campaign. This is something that will be considered as and when we need to ballot.

I am proud to be a member of Left Unity, and if re-elected as Group Assistant Secretary I will continue to be a strong voice on the GEC, campaigning on behalf of all of our members.

The Left Unity led GEC has continued to work hard on behalf of our members, despite barriers being put in place by our opponents holding the majority on the NEC. We would be able to make even more progress with a Democracy Alliance led NEC.

I urge all members to vote for me and for all of the Left Unity candidates in order to ensure we have the strongest team possible to continue to fight for our members.