On the 14 July, the General Secretary issued a briefing to bargaining units. Attached to that is an exchange of letters between the General Secretary and the Cabinet Office Minister Jeremy Quin.
In response to Mark Serwotka’s arguments around the pro-rating of the £1500, the Minister replied (all emphasis is ours):
You have since reported dissatisfaction from your members in relation to departmental proposals on implementation, specifically in relation to decisions they have taken on pro-rating the payment for part-time employees, which you refer to in your letter. As is made clear in the Pay Remit Guidance Addendum, this remains a matter for individual departments. Where pro-rating has happened, it is consistent with approaches in other areas of the public sector, such as the NHS. Additionally I would wish to highlight that the design of a simple fixed payment was intended to proportionally benefit employees in lower pay bands, and I note that you raised no objection on these grounds when we met on 2 June.
There you have it from the horse’s mouth, on the 2 June the GS did not object to the pro-rating of the bonus. That this was not considered a problem is confirmed by the membership videos, email briefings, and website reports that followed the 2 June announcement on pay by the Minister. In none of those are problems with the pro-rating mentioned.
Indeed, in guidance to pay negotiators they were told to, “seek a clear, up-front commitment to the payment of the £1,500 lump sum for all staff (pro rata where applicable)“. We still haven’t received a response as to when the union thinks it would be applicable!!
Only after pressure from activists and members did Mark Serwotka send a letter to the Minister objecting to pro-rata payment, but 28 days after the minister first told the leadership about the instruction or discretion give to employers to pay on that basis, and only following considerable membership anger.
As we said in an earlier posting ‘That is not “campaigning,” it is evidence of fundamental failure in the leadership’s exercise of its elementary equality duties as negotiators’.
Don’t Mourn, Get Organised, Vote NO
The Union is hoping to end the campaign through getting a Yes vote in the ballot that starts in August.
We are urging members to vote against:
- The NEC in its pseudo ballot consultation by returning a resounding ‘NO’ to their strategy to end the dispute.
- The leadership’s candidates for General Secretary (Fran Heathcote) and Assistant General Secretary (Paul O’Connor) later this year.
- Vote to remove the NEC majority in next year’s NEC elections.
Branches are being organised through the Branches Say No campaign. Go to its website and discuss in your branch the statement, contact the campaign to say you will support it, and make use of the materials to agitate for a reject vote. Also follow the PCS Say No twitter account.
And don’t forget, even if the dispute continues the monies will be paid. There is no offer for us to accept or reject, what the union is balloting on is whether we end or continue the dispute.
VOTE NO

