PCS members working in the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG), are currently being balloted for industrial action in response to a series of attacks on the terms and conditions of staff initiated by the senior management team:

• The closure of six departmental offices, including MHCLG bases in Newcastle, Truro, Sheffield, and Birmingham; flying in the face of Labour’s espoused commitment to “the regions”
• Ironically, given said programme of office closures, the continued enforcement of arbitrary and unequal office attendance policies, despite the evidence from the pandemic (and since), including the Ministry’s own evidence, showing that the vast majority of departmental roles can be undertaken from home without impact on the output and quality of work, and that staff are the best judges of where to undertake their roles from, consistent with their wellbeing and their personal lives
• The proposed abandonment of the department’s current location-neutral recruitment policy, that allows existing staff to apply for and take up any departmental role from their current locations, greatly expanding job choice and promotion opportunities, especially for staff in smaller offices

Members of the PCS Independent Left have been crucial in leading PCS MHCLG Branch’s “Our Work, Our Way” campaign in opposition to these wholly unnecessary attacks.

Offices threatened with closure are being balloted on an aggregated (collective) basis that will end 26th March. All other ‘regional’ offices are also being balloted on an aggregated basis with the ballot set to end 9^th April. London is the subject of its own ballot also ending the 9^th April. In the face of management intransigence, PCS representatives are working hard to secure a mandate for industrial action and fight back over the continued erosion of the flexibilities, and terms and conditions of MHCLG members and other civil servants. 

Whilst these proposals have been initiated by senior management, MHCLG is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who “declared”, in the House of Commons last October,  “…I am a lifelong proud trade union member.” Tellingly, however, despite invitation and representations by the MHCLG Branch, Rayner has failed to meet with PCS over this issue and has not met MHCLG PCS representatives once since becoming the Secretary of State over seven months ago. Rayner’s unwillingness to engage with MHCLG representatives undermines her public commitments to the importance of workers’ representation, “back[ing] working people to take their voice back, [and] improve their terms and conditions.” Successful ballots would represent a test for Rayner, who would be the first Secretary of State of this Labour Government to face strike action by civil servants within their own department over issues initiated during their incumbency.

With continued briefings and suggestions that the government will soon announce headcount reductions and the Chancellor asking departments to model spending cuts of 11% a year, it is likely that departments will propose office closures in the near future elsewhere and we must be prepared to fight back. We need a serious industrial and political strategy in response – a joined-up collective campaign to demand more for members that integrates opposition to office closures and cuts, with positive demands for pay restoration, and an end to low pay, flexible working, and job security. You can help us do this by voting for IL and Coalition for Change candidates in this year’s NEC and group elections – read our joint platform here.