I have been a member of PCS and its predecessor unions for almost 43 years and a Union rep for almost 25 now starting in the DHSS, DSS, BA and now the DWP.

I come from a background of socialism, equality and respect and I am proud that my mother was a union rep fighting for and achieving equal pay for women in the shipyards before changing her career into social work working in Children’s care.

My father was an active member of his union all his working life into his retirement and was very proud and supportive of my activism.

My husband is currently a GMB rep and HS rep in his workplace, so I have a very good and wide understanding of morality and a sense of equality for all on all levels across diverse areas.

My history in PCS began as a site rep, HS rep and ULR and I have been a Branch Secretary in a large PCS branch of almost 1000 members for over 14 years and I am an active member on the elected regional trade union side in the DWP NE.

I am a trained personal case rep and undertake many cases within all categories with an excellent success rate in supporting our members in the workplace up to ET level. This is a passion of mine that I will always strive to undertake.

I have undertaken roles within my region of Equality Officer, Regional Organiser and undertaken two years of elected Chair which was an honour to support the NE branches.

I am currently elected as DWP Regional Assistant Secretary and facility time lead and am also elected to the Northern PCS committee.

My first Group level activity was on the GWAC- Group Women’s Advisory Committee- working alongside other female reps proactively supporting women via seminars, advice and guidance. I helped to write the ‘Maternity and Pregnancy pack ‘and supported women via a ‘Women’s Health pack’. I am a trained Domestic Violence rep and am in contact with the Police and Crime Commissioners office via a database to support women in and out of the workplace.

By working on the GWAC I was empowered to stand for election to the GEC.

After a couple of years on the GEC I stood for Group Organiser and was proud to work with branches, regions and FTO’S during the massive ‘checkoff campaign’ effectively ensuring that PCS converted its members to direct debit to stop the attack launched upon us by the Government to try and bankrupt us into submission. I will always be proud of how PCS and the DWP LU led GEC handled that campaign that was extremely successful. I will always honour the humble highlighter in mapping tasks!

Being Group Organiser was a natural progression from Regional Organiser and I continued to work with 9 regions and 2 Countries in formulating a group action plan and following targets on recruitment, increasing the number of reps, cleansing our records effectively and training and supporting new activists and advocates.

The Organiser role also included learning and I actively worked with all officers to ensure a lifelong learning programme was available to all and negotiated with ER for official duty for collaborative working to offset the lapsing learning agreement that the DWP refused to cooperate with after the introduction of the imposed facility time agreement.

I stood for DWP Vice President and held that post for three years undertaking many operational meetings with the employer across five directorates and chairing all advisories in my remit.

I was also part of the DWP Pay team and Employer Relations team.

In my first year as a DWP VP I held responsibility for Organising and learning. This position entailed meeting organisers from all regions and countries and over seeing the DWP training packages for new reps. I have undertaken training for dozens of new reps, which was a privilege and I have watched many flourish into roles in PCS for which I am very proud.

I am currently the Departmental Trade Union Side Chair which entail chairing DWP meetings with the employer for PCS, FDA and Prospect across all consultation and negotiations in the department including health and safety.

I am proud to be a part of a team that takes the issues to the employer and ensures safety for our staff across a huge spectrum of issues.

I am now asking for your support to stand in the NEC election 2024 so that I can play my part and utilise my experience across the whole PCS membership to better terms, conditions, pensions, pay and health and safety in the workplace moving forward.

I ask that you read all the statements of those standing for election and re-election in 2024 and consider voting for them all as a great team moving forward in strength.

Thankyou