PCS

Public & Commercial Services Union - trade union for civil servants

Union backs Ukraine (John Moloney's column)

Our union National Executive Committee has adopted a policy on Ukraine, which clearly opposes Russia’s invasion and prioritises practical solidarity with the Ukrainian labour movement and refugees. Our International Committee, which I’m part of, met subsequently, and discussed what enacting that policy looks like in practice. The committee will be writing to members with practical steps they can take to support Ukrainian trade unionists. As part of this work, I’ve reached out to a contact in the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine, one of the two main trade union centres in the country. We...

Going for clear anti-Putin line (John Moloney's column)

The National Executive Committee of our union, PCS, will discuss the Russian war on Ukraine at its meeting on Wednesday 9 March. The motion that will be tabled is a straightforward condemnation of Russia’s invasion and a call for Russian withdrawal. It’s possible amendments will be tabled, but I haven’t picked up any pushback from any quarter within the union against that position, so I hope that the union’s formal position, once agreed, will be unambiguous. The motion also calls for the UK to open its borders to refugees. Our consultative ballot for action over the cost of living crisis is...

Opposing Borders Bill and Putin (John Moloney's column)

I was proud to speak on behalf of the union at two demos over the weekend. The first was on Saturday 26th outside Downing Street at the Ukrainian solidarity demonstration, and on Sunday 27th I spoke at the protest against the Nationality Bill in Parliament Square. At the Ukraine protest, I set out PCS’s position which condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine and supports the call for immediate withdrawal. Further, that we stand by the trade unionists and people of Ukraine at this terrible time. This is in line with PCS’s long-standing commitment to campaign against war and for the peaceful...

PCS ballot starts 24 February

Following an emphatic yes vote in the strike ballot, ATOS which is a private company. undertaking civil service work, have now made a revised offer to members. As a result, activists have asked that the strike action due on 28 February be suspended. That request has been agreed as members consider the improved offer. This again shows that members working together can achieve decisive changes in attitude from the employers. This is also what we will happen following the national consultative ballot which began on 24 February. All our public sector members are being balloted, mostly digitally...

Atos and Fujitsu vote for action (John Moloney's column)

Our members in Atos have returned a firm majority in their ballot for industrial action over pay. On a turnout over 62%, nearly 90% of members voted to take strike action and just over 98% for action-short-of-strikes! The first action is scheduled to begin on 28 February, with plans for escalating action if their demands aren’t met. PCS members who work for Fujitsu Services have voted by 77.1% to take strike action and by 90.7% to take action short of a strike on a turnout of 80.4%. Again the dispute is over pay. The union’s national consultative ballot for industrial action over pay and the...

New stirrings over pay (John Moloney's column)

As we continue to prepare for our national consultative ballot (14 February to 21 March) for action on the cost of living crisis, PCS members are also fighting local disputes. Two groups of members employed by private sector employers who hold civil service contracts are balloting for industrial action over pay, at Atos and Fujitsu. Our members at the British Council are also balloting for action to resist staffing cuts. The British Council’s income collapsed during the pandemic and it is seeking to recoup its budgetary deficit by cutting jobs. It has refused to rule out compulsory...

Johnson turns on the jobless

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has introduced new, harsher rules on sanctioning Universal Credit claimants. Previously, jobseekers had three months in which they could look for jobs in their preferred sector. Now, they must start accepting jobs in any line of work after four weeks or face sanctions. Remember, most claimants won’t even have received a payment until the fifth week. The government has done this because they want to ram people into the burgeoning vacancies in industries like construction and social care. They are using the threat of sanctions to push people into lines...

PCS prepares for ballot (John Moloney's column)

The union is gearing up for our consultative ballot for industrial action over the cost of living (14 February to 21 March). At my level, I’m involved in some of the background work, but the most important work has to be done at the grassroots. National communications can’t substitute for a base in the workplace. We have to inspire activists as we have a mountain to climb in getting the turn out. In that regard, Unison’s result in its local government ballot, where it got a 14.5% turnout, albeit it was all postal, is sobering. It should go without saying, but direct person-to-person...

Look again at Section 44 (John Moloney's column)

With the withdrawal of Covid restrictions in England, there is increasing rhetoric about an employers’ drive to get workers back into offices. It’s not entirely clear as yet how that will play out across the civil service and whether departments will be setting quotas for the number of workers they want back. We’re meeting the Cabinet Office on Tuesday 25 January to discuss this. The Daily Mail is already promoting a narrative that union opposition to workers being forced back into offices is somehow sabotaging the country’s recovery. It’s clear that the Prime Minister is looking, using those...

Opposing the two Bills (John Moloney's column)

On Saturday 15 January, I spoke at the “Kill the Bill” demonstration in London. The demo protested both the Policing Bill and the Nationalities and Borders Bill. We need an ongoing movement against both pieces of legislation, which represent a slide towards authoritarianism. The government’s war on migrants has direct industrial implications for our union (PCS) members who work in the Border Force. The government wants our members to drag migrant boats back towards France. Given that these boats are frequently overcrowded and unseaworthy, such a policy greatly increases the danger to the...

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