In the run-up to to the union’s all-members Facebook Live session on the national dispute, we’d like to give members some food for thought whilst tuned in.

PCS General Secretary, Mark Serwotka, recently stated, “as a consequence of a historic amount of industrial action, for the first time in our Union’s history we have forced the government to make major concessions on the question of pay.” But the truth is that the Government has only made minor pay concessions.

At the heart of PCS’ pay dispute for 2022 is the demand for a 10% cost of living increase in salaries and for a national living wage of £15.00 per hour. All that the Tories have done, by way of additional money, is to allow management teams in the civil service delegated pay areas discretion to pay an unconsolidated £1,500 per full time employee in 2023. This does not come anywhere near to meeting our 2022 pay claim.

Ironically, however, the General Secretary revealed one truth about his and Left Unity’s more than twenty years of dominance of PCS: they have delivered precious little to members by way of increased pay.

Seizing on the £1,500 as a way out of the pay dispute, the leadership:

• Failed to realise that the Government would claw back a chunk of the payment by reducing the benefit paid to members in receipt of Universal Credit.
• Failed to explore how such detrimental consequences could be minimised. (While any increase in income might be deducted from members receiving UC there is a significant difference between losing benefit for a one-off payment and losing benefit for a permanent rise in salary).
• Failed to insist that, the overwhelmingly female, civil servants who work part time should receive the full £1,500, instead of it being reduced pro rata, in recognition of the fact that inflation has hit them just hard as anybody.
• Failed to challenge the restriction of the lump sum to those in civil service employment on 31 March 2023 and at the time of payment, which will exclude those members who suffered detriment in 2022 but have since left the civil service, possibly after striking, and those members who joined after 31 March 2023 and may also have taken strike action.

These failings are the product of a leadership over eager to get out of the dispute and uninterested in the views and expertise of members. The leadership want the dispute over so that they can concentrate on the truly important thing which is the GS and AGS elections later this year. We can throw a spanner in their works by working for a vote to continue the dispute in the members’ ballot, that is sure to come soon. So, IL welcomes the news that some branches are grouping together to run such a campaign. Members need more money, so let’s continue the dispute. If you agree, why not to join the Independent Left by clicking here.