The PCS leadership wants the merger with Unite to be completed by 1 January 2015. We strongly suspect that it is for financial reasons that they wish to see this go through.

Certainly there are no reasons, if they are being honest, for claiming that it makes industrial sense to merge.

Unite does have members in the Civil Service and the Metropolitan Police but not in so great a number that it would make sense joining the two organisations together. We don’t compete for members in the private sector so there can be no argument that joining together will replace competition with cooperation and that way we can win recognition and recruit more members for the new union.

PCS Independent Left has long argued that PCS organise cleaners, security guards and Facilities Management (FM) companies that work on the Civil Service estates. Indeed we put motions to conference that have been passed calling on the union to do this or if it does not have the resources, or will power, to ask other unions, with our help, to do this necessary work. We have heard no arguments from the PCS leadership that this type of organising type is a reason for a merger. Therefore we come back to it; the only reason is money!