The national campaign for pay, jobs and terms and conditions is moving forward after key decisions by the NEC to send dispute letters to employers in the Civil Service and related areas. If employers do not accede to these demands by the 2nd October then it is likely that the union will be moving to a statutory ballot for strike action and action short of strike.
Motion A375 was passed at PCS Conference in May this year and required a national campaign on a range of transformational demands, moving to a ballot by the end of September if there was no movement from employers. Since as early as May 29, the NEC had instructed member-facing activity to take place to build the campaign, in addition to negotiations and internal preparation. While the subsequent activity did not meet the Coalition majority’s expectations, in August we instructed that the union do everything it could to be ready to launch a ballot by the end of September, in line with Conference policy. In September, making use of recent changes to the law, the Coalition majority agreed to a short delay to this timetable so that the union would be able to launch an electronic ballot at the earliest possible point. So, assuming the employer does not resolve the dispute by early October, the bulk of members will receive the chance to vote electronically when a ballot is called. The advantages of electronic ballot are considerable, and in a future article we will discuss how we can get the best out of such voting.
What is the dispute about?
On pay, PCS is seeking a 10% pay remit funded outside departmental budgets, a minimum wage of £18 per hour, improved pay progression, a higher London weighting, restoration of pay lost against inflation since 2010, and a pay system that protects workers from future real-terms pay cuts.
On jobs, the union is demanding a job security agreement guaranteeing no compulsory redundancies, protection of home and hybrid working, an end to office closure programmes without union agreement, adequate staffing levels, investment in workplaces, and a collective agreement governing the introduction of AI to protect jobs and ensure staff share in productivity gains.
On pensions, PCS is calling for implementation of the recommendations of the Civil Service Pension Scheme Advisory Board, reversal of key pension changes introduced between 2010 and 2015, particularly increases in retirement age, and improvements to pension arrangements to address equality concerns and deliver better outcomes for all members. The union argues that pension provision should once again form part of a fair and sustainable employment package for civil servants.
The demands on terms and conditions and industrial relations seek a significant strengthening of workplace rights and collective bargaining. PCS is calling for an end to multi-tier workforces, a move to a four-day week with no loss of pay, increased annual leave, improved sick pay, a right to switch off, and national bargaining on key employment policies including hybrid working, flexible working and equality matters.
At the same time, the union wants national collective bargaining, improved facilities and protections for union representatives, greater access for unions to communicate and organise in workplaces, strengthened rights for health and safety representatives, and a renewed industrial relations framework based on meaningful negotiation and agreement rather than employer-imposed change.
Our demands are comprehensive and far-ranging because the problems we have faced for years are far-ranging and deep.
What is the strategy?
We have seen in local disputes, such as the MHCLG ‘Our Work, Our Way’ dispute, that you can link dispute demands thematically and build solidarity amongst workers who may be more motivated by different issues of a dispute, tailoring the messaging and activities to those different workers while building a collective spirit for action. Likewise, this national campaign must listen to Groups in developing the campaign for each department, with tailored communication and materials, guided by their priorities, to provide clear stepping stones for the way ahead.
We also believe this grassroots approach means that what forms of industrial action are most impactful is known to those closest to the work- so any ballot should ask about both strike action and Action Short of Strike (ASOS) to maintain maximum tactical flexibility, rather than relying on received wisdom of those furthest from the day job.
We believe it is important that the union moves away from a singular focus on reactive campaigns and starts to take action as part of a proactive campaign- one where you are not just fighting against attacks by an employer on pay erosion, job cuts or terms and conditions losses but are fighting for a solution the union wants to see that would be better for members. For example, collective agreements on job security and AI would be transformational so nobody suffers compulsory redundancy in the Civil Service, and AI is introduced in a way that universally enhances, rather than worsens, working conditions and job security.
This tension between how campaigns have been fought in the past versus the campaign we are seeking to lead now has surfaced at the NEC. Left Unity- centred around the General Secretary Fran Heathcote, do not support this move to a proactive approach to building a campaign. They have opposed the move towards dispute when delegated talks are still going on over pay, even though it is clear that a 3.5% pay remit for delegated bargaining units means that it will not be possible for all members to have a satisfactory pay increase that addresses historic pay erosion. Moving forward now is not, as they claim, premature or a bad signal to delegated bargainers about their abilities- it is basic maths! Their decision to ‘pause’ the previous national campaign to seek concessions in national level talks has been proven to be a mistake- many Civil Service employers are simply refusing to engage with the pay compression framework and the expanded circumstances for pay flexibility business cases to be submitted. In that context, the 3.5% remit means concessions have simply failed to materialise. Action is what is needed to move employers.
Left Unity also disagree with the premise that a dispute covering a range of issues, which motivate different members to different extents, will maximise participation and turnout- especially when combined with targeted communications. Instead they believe that this will ‘confuse’ members who may not feel that a single matter of dispute applies to them. They are also concern that the lack of member-facing activity (that we called for!) may make the ability to achieve a positive result difficult in the Groups they control. This is negativity based on ignorance. This strategy has been proven to be motivating and work elsewhere and we think it is crucial to try a creative approach to building this campaign to maximise leverage, turnout and the ability to deliver wins for members. Left Unity seem to want to carry on as they have been when members are consistently telling us that the results have not been good enough and a more proactive union is the one they want.
The NEC and NDC did listen to those LU-controlled areas that are reticent about moving ahead with the campaign; where there were clear reasons for an employer group to be excluded from this campaign they have been, but where the only rationale given was a lack of understanding of the strategy we are putting forward, this was not considered a good enough reason to exclude them.
Independent Left are alive to challenges ahead of us. IL members raised the need to use this dispute and our campaigning to build it as a catalyst for recruitment and organising across every branch and workplace. We need to show every Civil Servant and related outsourced worker that PCS has their back, and to use that momentum to build a super majority union.
Levy to support strike action
Branches are currently being consulted on what options for a levy could look like to support this campaign if a ballot is needed and is successful. The Independent Left do not believe the options in the consultation document present the fairest way of raising money for a campaign via a levy and are proposing a more progressive alternative.
We propose that a levy should be based on 2 principles:
1) Basing the levy on 15% of a member’s subscription rate in the first instance.
2) The breaking up of Band A into Band A1 (£54,001+), A2 (£44,001-£54,000), A3 (£34,001-£44,000) for the purpose of a Levy and proposing levy rates for Band A based on 15% of a member’s subscription rate for those in sub-band A3 with a supplement for those in bands A2 and A1 to ensure those with the broadest shoulders can contribute the most. If the union bureaucracy decided this was not possible, then we would suggest sticking to the 15% level for all of Band A (as per principle 1).
The logic is straightforward, levies are regressive where they are not linked directly to a percentage of a member’s subscription rate. Our approach would see a Band A(3) pay £3 per month and a Band H pay 70p per month, while raising an amount that we believe would help support action when combined with reasonable cost restraint in the wider union (and these saved funds being diverted to the Fighting Fund).
This is separate to the question of how to support the Fighting Fund in the long term, an issue that the Independent Left have been campaigning on for many years. It is clear that we need to ensure the there is sufficient funding for a national campaign now, and that long term solutions need deep consultation with members and consideration at ADC before they can be implemented.
Why now?
IL are clear that the whole of PCS needs to work together on this campaign, otherwise we cannot win. We cannot accept the breaking up of our collective power by excluding large groups for parochial reasons when there is a collective fight to be had. Without pressure from industrial action and action short of strike action then it is not possible just to negotiate ourselves to a good agreement with our employers.
Whilst the Labour government is not the same as previous Tory ones (they are not launching attack after attack on us for a start), they are not sufficiently different that they are willing to negotiate over national pay rates, employment guarantees, among other demands. Only membership action will win the day. Support the national campaign, support the fight for better pay, job security, sustainable workloads and improved terms and conditions!