I joined PCS in my first week as a Civil Servant in 2022. After years without a local branch, my colleagues had seen our conditions deteriorate compared with other Passport Offices. I took it upon myself to rebuild our moribund branch, achieving the following:
• Doubling our local membership
• Quadrupling our local reps
• Re-establishing industrial relations and winning victories on local issues
• Transforming one of the Home Office’s worst performing branches, smashing ballot thresholds and playing an active role in national industrial action
• Playing a leading role as thousands of Passport Officers took five weeks of strike action, where I led 30 hours of picket lines, gave media interviews, administered strike pay and developed a guide for other branches
• For these achievements I won the New Activist Award at Conference 2023
I have since taken on the role of lead for bargaining issues affecting PCS members across the Passport Office. In this role I have fought for members as we face the challenges of digitalisation. I have also supported reps across the Passport Office and wider Home Office, and our branches continue to grow in confidence and organisation.
I was elected to the NEC for the first time last year and have served on the Organising and Finance subcommittees.
WHAT I STAND FOR
In the last year I became a father, which has recontextualised my view of what we do as a union. Hundreds of thousands of families rely on the civil service to be a stable, well-paying and supportive employer.
PCS must remain focused on the bread-and-butter issues that matter most to members: pay, job security, reasonable workloads and decent terms and conditions.
Across the civil service, a growing generation of workers want what previous generations expected: the ability to build a career, buy a home and support a family. Yet too many civil servants face falling real-terms pay, rising living costs and increasing pressure at work.
We must strengthen workplace organisation, back our reps and focus our industrial strength on winnable fights that deliver real gains for members.
Please elect the Democracy Alliance candidates
President – Cavanagh
Vice-Presidents – David, Green, Owens, Shafiq
NEC – Alderson, Baker, Paula Brown, Cahill, Corcoran, Dando, Darcan, Dwyer, Flynn, Gantschuk, Govind, Grant, Harney, Hegney, Hewitt, Jackson, Landeryou, Lawther, McDonough, McGachey, Marshall, Maxwell, Merry, Morton, Nurse, Pope, Reid, Stokoe, Thorley, Vallely