The PCS NEC election results have now been published.

The Coalition for Change, which brought together the PCS Independent Left (IL), Broad Left Network (BLN) and other groups and independents, has secured a clear NEC majority on a principled programme that addresses the key issues facing members and our trade union.

We thank the many branches that nominated Change candidates, the activists and members who voted and campaigned for them, and all the members who took part in PCS’ democracy.

Members have clearly voted for change in these NEC elections, confirming the mood for radical change within PCS that was evidenced during last year’s senior officer elections.

There is a great deal of work to be done by the incoming NEC, not least because:

• Civil Service pay is in unprecedented long term decline.
• Tens of thousands of members are stuck on and near the legal minimum wage.
• The civil service is strong arming members into office working pattens that are unnecessary and discriminatory.
• Non-civil service members all too often have poor terms and conditions, woeful employer regimes, and are under organised and under supported by national union. 
• Membership levels are too low, damaging our leverage.

The Coalition NEC members cannot overnight put right all that has been put right wrong, but they can and will start that work.

Our most immediate challenge is to respond to the results of the civil service wide ballots on pay and other issues, which will conclude on 13 May.  It is unfortunate that we will have to undertake that task when the decisions of Left Unity NEC members and senior PCS officials have left our union in a weaker position today than we were in a year ago, but it is vital that PCS begins to rebuild the purchasing power of our wages.

Independent Left NEC members will:

• Seek sharp debates on policy issues and collaborative working on delivering for members.
• Place equality genuinely at the heart of everything PCS does.
• Seek to end the spin culture that has too long dominated PCS and insist on timely, comprehensive, national negotiating reports to members.
• Never forget that the lives of PCS members are affected by events outside of our workplaces and that social and international solidarity must be a PCS lode star.

IL supporters have long played a critical role in PCS. We pioneered equality impact assessments of employer policies; established that the Crown is the legal employer of all civil servants; pioneered cross departmental equal pay claims; led fightbacks against office closures; argued alone for many years that a Fighting Fund War Chest and paid selective action must be vital parts of PCS’ armoury; sought the contractualisation of terms and conditions so that they cannot be arbitrarily changed by our employer, and have long fought for a membership led union. Please join us.