At New Year it is customary to look forward to the year ahead.

Unfortunately when we do, the outlook seems grim.

For the UK Civil Service, it is likely that the upcoming pay remit will be a mere 2.8% (this is what the Government is recommending to the pay review bodies, and we unlikely to do better than that). Almost certainly job losses will happen, with the FT reporting that 10,000 posts will be lost, and we think this figure could be higher as departments are under instructions to achieve ‘efficiency gains’ and are undergoing a spending review that is designed to lead to further cuts. 

In response, Left Unity has spent the last year wrecking the democracy of PCS and preventing the NEC from functioning properly on behalf of members, and yes, squandering your money in the process.

All this has to be seen against the background of the long-term decline of the real value of Civil Service pay, with awards year on year below the rate of inflation. The result of this is that between 2010 and 2023, median Civil Service annual pay fell between 15% and 38%, depending on the grade and inflation indicator. And, unlike Left Unity, we don’t forget that the UK Civil Service got the worst awards in the whole public sector in 2023 and 2024.

Whilst the position in the devolved Scottish and Welsh Civil Service, or in the Met, won’t be so bad they will still face budget pressures which will lead to low pay remits and restrictions on staffing. Certainly our members in the private sector will feel those budget pressures as well.

So what should we do?

Any union worthy of that name would be preparing to fight but unfortunately despite the rhetoric, Left Unity have no intention of doing anything but go through the motions of pretending to resist.

Therefore one of the key tasks has to be winning a clean sweep in the 2025 NEC elections, removing the deliberate obstruction to change, and frankly, electorally getting rid of LU.

If you agree, then please join us.