The PCS NEC met briefly on Tuesday 7th July. It did so for two purposes:
- To vote for a statement drafted by the General Secretary (GS) that established the only basis upon which she was prepared to “permit” the NEC’s decisions be “recognised” and supported by the full-time employees of PCS. This is despite the lay-led leadership of PCS, elected by you, is the NEC in between PCS Conferences.
- To enable the NEC to authorise industrial action by members in Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) over restructuring and redundancy– authorisation which could and should have been given earlier by the PCS National Disputes Committee, but which was being blocked by the GS.
The PCS President, Bev Laidlaw, and the NEC are extremely supportive of the FCDO members’ action and had pressed hard to give authorisation earlier.
It was precisely because the President and NEC are keen to lead a fighting union which supports rank-and-file action – not only those FCDO members, but also other members building and already taking part in disputes – that they agreed to the GS’ statement.
The President put her name to it to clear the blockages put in place by the GS, having established that she will obtain independent legal advice concerning the standing orders of the NEC.
For our part, PCS Independent Left congratulates FCDO members in defeating the legally required 50% turnout threshold for industrial action and for voting so solidly for action – a whopping 78% of voting members supported strike action and 97% supported action short of a strike.
We wish FCDO reps and members speedy success in their campaign. We call upon all branches to join Independent Left in sending messages of support to FCDO, whose stand we hope will inspire other areas of PCS to resist the attacks of our employer.
But not only this, PCS Independent Left welcomes the fact that the NEC members you elected in May is again functioning.
We ran on a platform of change. This is not simply a matter of changing the NEC standing orders, but rather refounding the whole union so power is delivered into the hands of rank-and-file members like you.
This means a serious, coordinated approach to a national campaign, fighting hard far fair pay and wider terms and conditions changes.
This means giving the resources and tools to branch reps to deliver vibrant member-led campaigns, such as the Our Work, Our Way dispute in MHCLG against enforced office attendance mandates and for delivering a real say in ways of working to members.
This means every taking a leading role in the fight against racism and fascism, against transphobia, and other issues impacting members.
But we cannot but condemn a situation in which the GS blocked the functioning of the NEC because she disagrees with our programme for change and for a fighting rank-and-file union and the steps she took that undermined membership interests She simply had no constitutional or contractual right to do so to block the NEC as she did. She has now latterly used the NEC’s wish to support members to leverage a “statement” and agree decisions that are very largely on her terms as the basis for refraining from further fundamental obstruction to delivering for members.
The NEC will now meet again during w/c 13/07 and those NEC members elected on the Coalition for Change programme are determined to ensure that meaningful work is progressed to deliver for members.