It was a short NEC meeting on Wednesday afternoon where we discussed which motions the NEC will put forward to the upcoming Annual Delegate Conference – where members from across PCS will come together to debate motions as the union’s highest democratic decision-making body.

The meeting approved a new Organising Strategy, which represents a whole new approach compared to the failed strategy which members roundly rejected at last year’s ADC. With a clear plan to build on this, Independent Left members proposed a new platform for negotiators and organisers to be able to easily compare the pay ranges across all the employers represented by our union. This will not only embolden our Civil Service members but will have a clear focus on our outsourced and agency members, supporting the Independent Left-led campaign on insourcing, and particularly, support our DDaT colleagues. 

As part of the Coalition for Change, IL also supported putting the National Shop Steward Network (NSSN) affiliation to ADC. While we have criticisms of the NSSN, we believe it is right that members can debate and decide. 

A potential real victory for PCS awaits at ADC if members agree with our plan to democratise and open up the NEC, and eliminating the ability to cynically use the Standing Orders to cause deadlock.

But the real highlight of the meeting was an incredible U-turn by Left Unity members on the NEC, who after months of blocking debate which kept the levy in place, have now decided to put forward a plan for constant emergency levies at high rates. “We can raise levies whenever we want!” brazenly threatened one LU NEC member. They have refused to come up with a long-term plan for either pay restoration or indeed how to pay for the action to win it. In doing this, they risk keeping your pay low and leaving those members who do take action without the support of strike pay. In the debate, supporters of the General Secretary denigrated ADC and our union’s democracy, and drew out their opposition to giving members the opportunity for real debate and strategic discussion on a way forward. Instead, they proposed nothing more than running the same tactic again in future, and missing the chance to have a long-term sustainable inflow to build the Fighting Fund and keep it topped up, ready for action. For the IL, it could not be clearer – if we do not put enough money into the Fighting Fund in between periods of action, then temporary levies will be all but inevitable (and also higher than they might otherwise have needed to be). Of course, levies can also be avoided by refusing to take any action and PCS being left industrially impotent, another eventuality LU are content to be complacent about.

The Independent Left won the argument on NEC to support taking an alternative serious and realistic proposal to test with members at ADC that sets out how to have a properly maintained Fighting Fund that any member should have access to when out on strike, all by changing the current flat rate 50p contribution from subs to a 10% rate. Read our motion below:

Conference notes that the use of temporary, campaign-based levies has created a situation where funds have amassed that are not flexible enough to be used for the different industrial campaigns the union is fighting if they do not meet the stated aim of the levy at the point it was established.

Conference therefore agrees that:
1. These levies have created an unnecessary point of argument and confusion for members while creating a ‘start-stop’ approach to fighting fund replenishment which is unsustainable.
2. The current Fighting Fund contribution of 50p per month for most members is not sufficient to enable the Fighting Fund to support the amount of industrial action necessary to exercise leverage over many employers across our membership.
3. The current Fighting Fund contribution of 50p per month cannot change with inflation, or when the regular subscription rates change annually, because it is established by supplementary rule 3.14(d)
4. That changing this figure from 50p to a percentage of a member’s subscription would allow a more progressive and sustainable, permanent method of building the Fighting Fund.
5. That the appropriate figure for this contribution is 10%, which would raise approximately £2.7 million per annum for the Fighting Fund at current subscriptions rates.
6. That members except those in Band A (over £34,000) would pay less than £2 per month under this system.
7. That members in unrecognised workplaces should not contribute to the Fighting Fund, and should therefore be excluded from supplementary rule 3.14(d)

Conference therefore instructs the NEC to end any temporary levies currently in place under supplementary rule 7.11(j).

Conference further agrees to amend the rules of the Union to change the contribution to the Fighting Fund accordingly: 
1. In supplementary rule 3.14, subsection (d), after “Ordinary members”, insert “in recognised workplaces”. 
2. In supplementary rule 3.14, subsection (d), after “shall pay an additional”, replace “50 pence per month” with “10 percent of their subscription rate per month”.