For PCS NEC

I am seeking re-election to the National Executive Committee.

I have been a rep and a member of Left Unity for 18 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 to the DWP GEC in 2019. I was co-opted to Group Journal Editor role in 2020 and elected to this role in 2021, before being elected as Group Assistant Secretary in 2022.

I have sat on the PCS Scotland Committee at various periods over a number of years, elected as Vice Chair in 2019, and as Chair in 2022.

I have been involved in a variety of Equality Committees throughout my time as a rep. I currently represent PCS on the STUC Women’s Committee. I believe our members are the lifeblood of our union, and that we should be representative of all of our members.

I have been involved with Stand Up To Racism since 2019 on behalf of PCS Scotland Committee. I am proud of the work PCS has done alongside SUTR to challenge racism in the workplace and to make our union more representative of our members.

Since my election to the NEC in 2021 I have sat on the Campaigns Committee, Devolved Administrations Committee, National Editorial Board, and the National Women’s Forum, as well as being NEC Liaison Officer to DWP and the Scotland Committee.

I am proud to be part of a strong Democracy Alliance led NEC. I strongly believe in our strategy of action over pay, pensions, jobs and redundancy terms. Our members deserve a pay rise that not only rewards them for the work they continued to carry out throughout the pandemic, but also allows them to keep up with the cost of living and more. Our members also deserve to be paid back the money they are owed from overpaying into their pensions, not forced to cover the cost of this. We have listened to our members who have told us that one or two day strikes do not work, as well as those who have told us that they cannot afford to strike. The strategy we agreed at annual delegate conference, and that we balloted our members on, is one that maximises the impact on the government, while minimising the financial impact on our members.

I am extremely proud that our Democracy Alliance led NEC agreed to PCS taking legal action along with Care4Calais against the Home Office Channel boat pushback policy, a policy we believed to be unlawful and morally reprehensible, and which would also impact on our members in the Border Force. The legal challenge forced the government to withdraw this policy. I am also extremely proud that we have been challenging the Rwanda policy, and although we lost our legal challenge of this on a technicality, we continue to oppose and campaign against the policy.

Our members need and deserve the strong leadership Democracy Alliance provides, and if re-elected I will continue to work alongside this NEC to build on the work we have started and campaign for our members on all issues.