Last July, the Left Unity majority NEC took the decision to run a consultative ballot of PCS members, asking for endorsement of the NEC strategy and whether members agreed to pause the industrial phase of the national campaign.
The union’s leadership were always clear this was not an end to the campaign or dispute; it was not an acceptance that what had been achieved already by member action, was enough to accept on behalf of those same members. The campaign continued.
Alongside other unions, such as the RMT, CWU, and the NEU – who had already paused industrial action to allows talks to continue on their own demands – the Left Unity-led PCS NEC took the view we should weigh-up what concessions had already been won, what the next round of talks might deliver, and to see if genuine progress could be made in talks with the Cabinet Office on pay cohesion and job security.
Gains made but the campaign continues
At that stage, our union had already taken a record amount of industrial action, over 304 days in fact, based on our strategy of targeted sustained action, backed up by co-ordinated, national strikes that could have the maximum impact on the government and employers.
That strategy, based on maximising the pressure on government, increasing our leverage, and minimising the financial impact on our members, was hailed across the movement as ground-breaking, and the success of the levy introduced to allow us to give strike pay to those taking sustained targeted action on behalf of us all, had meant we could keep that pressure on for the full 6 months.
That action had already delivered:
A doubling of the Treasury remit from 2% to 4.5%, plus another 0.5% for our lowest paid
Larger percentage increases for the lowest paid in some of our key groups
A £1500 non-consolidated cost-of-living payment for 2021/22 pay round
The withdrawal of the government’s manifesto pledge to cut our compensation scheme and redundancy terms by a third
A commitment to ongoing talks about pay cohesion and job security across the UK Civil Service
A significantly improved 2-year pay deal for members across the Scottish Sector
False narrative of our opponents rejected by members
In any era these gains should be seen as significant, and proof that taking action can force concessions from even the most aggressive, and vitriolic of government’s.
Incredibly, our BLN/IL opponents who have since formed an alliance for factional and electoral advantage, argued that “nothing had been won” by our campaign and set about deliberately misleading our membership and making false claims that the campaign had been abandoned.
While this narrative was accepted by a vocal minority, particularly with a number of activists, the wider membership saw through the deceit of our opponents – who were actually demanding more unpaid national action while not being prepared to publicly state that – and overwhelmingly endorsed the NEC strategy to pause our industrial action on a 47% turnout and a huge yes vote.
NEC keep promise to members
The LU-led NEC, and wider Left Unity, were always very open about our view that we would need to move back to a statutory ballot again if sufficient progress could not be made in both the delegated and central talks, and following the December NEC these messages were once again repeated, with all branches asked to prioritise getting themselves ready for a potential statutory ballot early in the New Year.
Despite positive talks with the Cabinet Office, and an acknowledgement by senior Civil Servants, that the current outdated pay system needs to be modernised and harmonised over the next 5-6 years, the February NEC were unanimous in their view this did not represent sufficient progress to end our dispute.
The LU-led leadership have, therefore, lived up to their commitment to members and activists, and are now consulting members about moving to a further statutory ballot in pursuit of our key demands, on pay, pensions justice, and job security.
The NEC have agreed to take even greater demands to the employer, that include:
A cost-of-living rise, with restoration for pay lost in previous years
Pay equality across departments on the best possible terms
A living wage of £15 an hour
London weighting provision of minimum £5,000 a year
35 days annual leave minimum
A significant shortening of the working week with no loss of pay
In the Scottish Sector, members, having accepted an improved 2-year pay deal following on from the action taken last year, are being asked if they continue to support our demands on pensions and are ready to go on strike to achieve them.
Across the rest of the union the question focuses on pay – with a call for future increases to be inflation proofed, plus additional money for pay restoration, rather than a flat % increase – and whether members are prepared to take action to achieve them.
This is exactly in line with what the leadership of our union said they would do, but we have still seen accusation and acrimony in our opponents recent responses.
Opponents seek to demoralise while Left Unity remain optimistic
As happened last year, the NEC’s political opponents have gone into overdrive to dismiss the decision to consult members.
The BLN article in particular comes across as confused and contradictory, now demanding that the union continue to pause the industrial phase of our national campaign, to give branches and reps more time to agitate the members. Having previously claimed, spuriously, that it is Left Unity and the NEC who lack confidence in our members, this shows an incredible conservatism at best, and a complete lack of faith in our activists and members at worst. Since 2022, even after the first historic ballot result we delivered, the BLN have opposed every decision the leadership of this union has taken on the national campaign. They opposed our strategy of prioritising paid targeted action, demanding more unpaid national action instead; they argued through their elected NEC member(s) that the levy should be voluntary, even though this would weaken our ability to fund strike pay for our members; they argued the targeted action wasn’t impactful enough, despite the obvious concessions it helped deliver. They then argued, last summer, we should go bigger and quicker with our action, just as other unions were taking stock and pausing.
Now, hypocritically, they claim we are asking too much too soon, and we should push any ballot or engagement with members back. This is neither a credible nor honest position for them to take.
Equally, their new found allies in IL have issued their own confused and irresponsible article on social media.
While repeating the same tired and false accusations about the NEC leadership, this time they have gone one step further.
Leaking the academic research that the NEC had commissioned, showing how far behind our members had fallen behind in pay over the last two decades and beyond, not only fails to acknowledge how this could confuse members about our demands for restoration of pay, but to do so on social media channels, which are open to the government, our employers, and other unions, shows an incredible lack of judgement, when they know talks are ongoing with the Cabinet Office.
The negativity of the BLN/IL response can only be seen as an attempt to undermine the leadership of PCS, dilute the positive message, that taking action can win for members, and sow seeds of doubt in the minds of members.
Left Unity, all of our NEC members, and comrades back in branches, are clear members should not be deterred or disillusioned by what you read or hear, from those whose priority is bringing down the current leadership.
Remember it is your action, combined with the strategy of the Left Unity leadership, that delivered more money in your pockets in 2023, defeated the government’s pledge to reduce your compensation terms by 33%, and has forced central talks on a better, and fairer, pay system for future. None of this would have been achieved without the action you voted for and took in the first phase of this campaign.
Our demands are fair, they are reasonable, and they are affordable, and PCS members engaging in this consultation right now, and being ready to vote for more action, if necessary, can force further concessions ahead of the Treasury remit being published.
Left Unity opponents place electoral advantage over members priorities
So why have our opponents been so quick to change their position on taking action now and pushing ahead with a ballot, when that’s been their narrative for the last 18 months?
In the modern world it is increasingly dangerous to speculate as to the reasons for positions taken by reps and activists who claim to be the real voice of the rank and file, but this year I don’t think we need too much time thinking it through.
In the same way they used the NEC position on the national campaign to launch an attack, often personal and always vicious, on our newly elected General Secretary, Fran Heathcote, during the GS/AGS elections in November and December, it is clear they see this as a point of attack in the forthcoming NEC and Group elections.
There is nothing wrong with that in principle, two different slates standing on two different platforms can be seen as good for democracy, offering members a legitimate choice in the direction they want their union to take on the big issues.
Unfortunately, the nature of the opposition tells us a different game is being played, regardless of what the consequences for the union or our members is.
A situation that sees experienced reps and activists flip-flopping between wanting to do more, quicker, and doing less, at a slower pace, does not show consistency and actually indicates dishonesty. Equally, the constant opposition to every decision that is taken by the NEC on key priorities for our members, even when such decisions are in line with previous positions articulated by our opponents do not tell the ccomplete picture.
It has felt for quite some time that opponents of the current NEC majority and Left Unity, have disagreed with a position merely because it is we, and not they, that have taken it. But this latest game is a dangerous one.
There is no doubt, that the future direction of our union, and who controls it will be decided by this year’s national elections, and the same can be said in the big groups. There is equally no doubt that there is a fundamental difference between the LU/Democracy Alliance strategy for the national campaign – prioritising paid targeted action that can be sustained over time, backed up by national action when it can have the most impact – and that of the BLN/IL alliance – mainly national unpaid action backed up by paid targeted action.
However, the response from both BLN and IL right now, has little to do with that fundamental difference, that they still seek to avoid debating in front of members, and everything to do with the timing.
If we are to have a debate about the national campaign this side of the elections, then members would have every right to expect it to be about strategy, the type and frequency of any action, what we include in our respective demands (BLN, actually, begrudgingly ask you to say yes for the NEC agreed demands near the end of their disjointed communication), and whether members priorities align with our own.
What we have seen instead, is a cynical attempt to try and accuse the NEC over the timing of the consultation, and a perspective ballot. So why is the timing such an important issue for them?
Simply put, it can only be one of two things, or, perhaps, a combination of the two. While it is possible their sole focus had been on winning both the GS and AGS for their joint candidates, and as such they have taken their eye off the ball in ensuring branches and members were ballot ready for the national campaign, Left Unity believe it is much more simple than that.
Both of our opponents in the alliance of convenience deliberately engaged in a hostile and negative campaign for the GS and AGS posts towards the end of last year.
There is certainly anecdotal evidence, in feedback received from branches, that this put members off voting rather than engage them on the who should be elected to the two most senior posts in our union.
A calculated gamble that, disengaging in the election, leading to a lower turnout would best serve the BLN/IL interests.
There is a train of thought that this “successful” strategy, which saw a very low turnout in the election, that was way down on previous GS elections certainly, nearly had the desired effect.
It is also, widely accepted that a key plank of their election campaign to take control of the NEC this year, will have been to accuse the current NEC majority of calling off the national campaign. Despite what they have said in their respective articles, this is plainly no longer an attack line they can take, as it is they who are asking for the NEC to continue the pause, rather than move to ballot over winning the pay and conditions our members need and deserve.
However, what is noticeable about both articles is that the negative spin remains, and with it the risk that members will once again be turned off from engaging in either the current consultation or any subsequent ballot. There should be no doubt either that a negative campaign in the forthcoming elections, and a derailing of the national campaign, will serve the electoral interests of Left Unity’s opponents far more than it will the current leadership.
Left Unity is fully committed to working with every activist and member who seeks to maximise engagement with our membership, and wants to prioritise winning the national campaign for our members. Surely, that has to be our real goal, here, winning for members!
PCS Left Unity 