The election for the PCS General Secretary (GS) position has begun, and AWL members in the PCS are recommending that members vote for Mark Serwotka, the present incumbent.
Our recommendation for such a vote is not because we are not uncritical of him; on the contrary.
In 2009 he was paid a gross salary of £85,421; resulting in pension contributions of £24,669; he also received Additional Housing Cost Allowance of £1,347; an additional Housing Cost Supplement of £449 and a beneficial loan interest of £748. According to the last set of Union accounts he donated £4,000 to the fighting fund.
Therefore he has a remuneration package of £108,634 (£112,634 before the fight fund donation has been deducted). This compares to an “industry” in which 60% of full time permanent civil servants earn less than £25,000 (source: the PCS). Mark Serwotka’s pay is too high, and it shows just how far he has drifted from his activist roots.
That said, his opponent in the election, Rob Bryson has pledged to take all of the money and not donate any money back.
We support Mark because we recognise that Rob Bryson’s campaign is based on opposition to the union properly sticking up for members. He will oppose what we support, the need for a campaigning union. He will actually, if privately, welcome what we oppose, for example the PCS leadership’s spin and its on/off approach to national pay that sees us in a worse pay position than when Mark Serwotka was first elected.
Rob Bryson has made clear in his election literature that he wants to do deals with the Government. Given that the Government, whether New Labour, Tory or national coalition wants to slash the civil service then he is advocating accepting the cuts. Mark Serwotka is opposed to these slash and burn proposals.
Therefore in the context of a two horse race, and given the pedigree and racing form of the runners, we are in favour of a vote for Mark Serwotka.
Comments
drifting from your roots
Serwotka is not the only one who has drifted from his activist roots. When he was first elected as General Secreatary in 2000, I was an officer of the PCS branch in which Bryson was a young rep and an ultra-left, dissident SWP member!
The threat he poses is a real one: he came within a few hundred votes of winning the last election for a full-time senior officer position in which he stood. The problem of low turnout will again be decisive because the left has not shown members that it will stand up to the employer on jobs, pay or pensions any more than the old right-wing leadership backing Bryson would.