Last night, nearly 100 Left Unity members and supporters attended our Election campaign rally for the Democracy Alliance NEC as the ballot opened.The atmosphere was great.

Attendees heard from: –

Paul Williams, DFT Group President and NEC member, who recently won his tribunal against his employer, and talked about the success of his case,

Melvyn Hill, OCS rep, whose successful campaign led to winning better pay for security staff in MOJ-

Sarah Evans, branch chair of DVLA Swansea, who spoke passionately about the 4 days of strike action members have taken so far, the further 4 days that they plan to take in May and the fantastic support the branch have received from the NEC.-

Fran Heathcote, PCS President and Democracy Alliance presidential candidate, who described in detail what is at stake in these elections, and why we need a united front, not division, to defeat the Tories.

PCS members in both the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) have both now ended their independent but clearly linked disputes with their employers on Covid-19 safety in court buildings.

The CPS Group has just agreed to end the dispute following concessions and agreements reached following a lengthy set of negotiations with management representatives in HR, Health and Safety and Operations. We now have agreements in place, bringing improvements to CPS Health, Safety and Operational procedures around the Union’s 6 key demands:

For the last few months, a team from the PCS NEC have been working with the DVLA Swansea branch to enable them to resolve a serious health and safety dispute that has arisen during the course of the pandemic.

Despite initially taking a sensible approach during the first lockdown and ensuring that the bare minimum of workers remained on site, by the middle of 2020, DVLA management had bought into Boris Johnson’s mantra that everything would soon be back to normal and they started a rapid escalation of returning staff to being physically on site.

After 48 years the Shrewsbury pickets who had been accused of unlawful assembly and conspiracy to intimidate have finally seen justice when their prosecutions were thrown out by the high court.

This is a huge victory for our entire movement and should be celebrated as such.

We in the PCS were proud to give our full support and solidarity to the campaign. Ricky Tomlinson addressed PCS Left Unity conference and DWP Group Conference during the campaign, and at both meetings members expressed full solidarity.

At a time when it is again under threat we must always defend workers’ rights to picket and protest.

Fran Heathcote

Between Monday 15th and Sunday 21st March, it is Neurodiversity Week. Neurodiversity includes a number of conditions such as Autism, Asperger Syndrome, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Tourette’s Syndrome.

Many of these conditions were never recognised until long after the Disability Discrimination Act became law. There were no Reasonable Adjustments at work to accommodate these conditions. However, Reasonable Adjustments are not enough to ensure the well being of Neurodivergent employees. It is important that society has a more basic understanding of such needs.

On 16th March the Conservative Government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill passed its second reading, bringing closer one of the biggest attacks on democracy, and under represented communities, in the UK in recent memory.

If passed into law, the Bill will immediately place a target on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities with the police able to seize individuals property and vehicles, while also levying fines and the potential threat of prison.

In addition the Bill also places severe restrictions on our human right to protest, notably by enhancing the ability of police to place restrictions on public processions while at the same time leaving what such restrictions may be entirely open.