The outgoing General Secretary claimed in a Tribune article that one outcome of the 2023 pay round was:

… national talks about changing civil service pay structures to deal with low pay and inherent issues.

This was matched by a PCS announcement at the time, claiming our pay campaign:

… forced the Cabinet Office into a series of talks with PCS on pay and staffing.

And in another posting, PCS stated we had won:

A commitment to further talks on low pay and greater coherence of pay within the civil service.

At the time we said that this was hype and spin. We pointed out that if you went here you would see what the Cabinet Office Minister really said about these talks (all emphasis in the rest of this postings is ours):

“Finally, in looking at the right approach to future reward strategy in the Civil Service, the Government intends to draw on the views of trade unions, including with respect to lower paid staff and how best to encourage greater coherence within the delegated Civil Service structures.“

 So it came as no surprise when PCS announced:   

The discussions (that PCS claimed were about changing civil service pay structures to deal with low pay and inherent issues) were positive and constructive and there appears to be a desire (which is not the same as there being a desire) on the employer’s side to make progress for the first time in many years.

The Cabinet Office has commissioned further work on the issues that we raised, and further talks will be arranged, probably in January 2024.

It is highly unlikely however that the talks will produce enough gains on pay for 2024 to meet our demands, and the NEC therefore decided that we should prepare for a national statutory industrial action ballot in 2024.

Of course the talks will produce zero gains on pay for 2024; spin and hype again.    

But the leadership has form when it comes to ending pay campaigns while claiming breakthrough talks (but interestingly never a breakthrough on our actual salaries!).

Mark Serwotka made the same claims of a breakthrough on national pay in 2005 and 2008.

In a PCS website posting on 2 December 2008, the leadership announced:

“PCS today announced a breakthrough in its pay campaign by reaching a national agreement [it had not!] with the government over pay…money from ‘efficiency savings’ will now be released for pay bargaining…” (it was not)

The PCS online report continued:

“Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said ‘This agreement [he never had one] is an important breakthrough …over the coming weeks and months we will be ensuring [he did not] that this agreement produces better pay for the low paid civil and public servants [it did not!]…” 

And now of course he and his allies pushed the same line in 2023. This is a lucky leadership – not many get to achieve three national breakthroughs in 18 years!

Will spin and hype leave with Mr Serwotka as he leaves PCS – NO. It is hard baked into Left Unity’s culture. Instead of honest accounting, LU prefers to reach for hyperbole.

We want to change the union so this approach ends. If we lose a dispute then let’s admit that was the case and then work out how to win the next one!