Privatisation

It’s a good step that we’re moving to all-out action on 1 February, especially as we should be striking alongside other unions on that day, especially the National Education Union. Strikes in schools have a wider impact, as parents often have to stay home from work to look after children, so we’re expecting 1 February to be very impactful. Our National Executive Committee will debate the next steps. It’s vital 1 February isn’t a one-off set piece, but a launchpad for further national action. Various proposals are under discussion, including some for further all-out strikes in March. My own...

Our national ballot closed on 7 November. We expect to have the full results by 9 November, ready for the National Executive on Thursday 10th. PCS disaggregated the ballot into 214 separate units and we are confident of hitting the thresholds in a significant number of areas, including major government departments where workers have particular leverage. Our National Executive will further meet on 18 November to discuss proposals for action. In the week between getting the results and the 18 Nov meeting, the union will write to the Cabinet Office to reiterate our demands put in the ballot: a 10...

Monday 7 November is the last day for our national ballots. Effectively though, votes will not be counted if members don’t send them off by the the previous Friday at latest. We know from information recorded by branches that in many areas we are getting close to the 50%, in some we are over, but in others, we still have a way to go. Over the coming days we have to redouble our efforts to get members to vote. We are running a disaggregated ballot in over 200 areas. This means that by the end of the ballots, we may have a patchwork of positive ballots, but others where we did not get to the...

Cleaners in GMB at University of Arts London (UAL) High Holborn campus struck 26-30 September, as part of a wider campaign against outsourcing across the university. At the High Holborn branch, the specific demand of the cleaning team was for an additional five members of staff, to make up for those who had been cut as the cleaning contract has been passed around different agencies in the last few years. The contractor offered an “independent investigator” to provide a staff number. But cleaners there know the reality, after one worker had to take a month off sick, whilst another had to have...

The first round of strikes by our outsourced worker members at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), planned for 5-6 September, has been suspended. Local reps felt managers for the contractor ISS were making concessions in talks that were sufficient to call the strikes off. Further strikes, planned for 13-14 September, remain on, and that action will take place if those concessions don’t turn into concrete guarantees. Our members at the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) centre in Liverpool, run by Hinduja Global Systems, are on strike between 5 to 10 September...

Our outsourced worker members at the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) will strike again on 5-6 and 13-14 September. It’s part of their long-running fight for workplace justice. They’re striking to win improved pay and terms and conditions. The outsourced contracts at BEIS are due to be re-tendered next year. The employer plans to take a number of outsourced contracts and consolidate them into a smaller number of regional contracts, with one for security and a separate one for cleaning, reception, and catering. We’re mounting a legal challenge to that, as we don’t...

The PCS National Executive (NEC) meets on 13-14 July, and will decide on the tactical nuances for our upcoming ballot over pay and conditions, including the timetable and exact form of the ballot. There’s a clear majority on the NEC for disaggregating the ballot by department, which many feel is the best way to guarantee the maximum number of members being able to take action. Historically I’ve always favoured singular, aggregated ballots for national pay and conditions disputes, but this is a tactical question rather than a matter of principle. One message I’m hearing strongly from rank-and...

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT rail union, on Peston on ITV, responded to Tory MP Robert Jenrick about how to increase demand for the railways: “The worst way you could do it is by insisting the fares go up by RPI ripping off the commuters, but you won’t give the workers RPI… Last year, profits were made by the train operators — £500m out of that subsidy you gave went to those companies. First Group and Go Ahead, whom we’re negotiating with, are both subject to takeovers from private equity companies. “They’re going to be worth billions because they know you’re going to keep...

Several PCS branches are reporting increases in membership since the RMT announced its strikes. Having a major national strike taking place and being spoken about, in the media but also in workplaces and communities, makes the labour movement visible and reminds people what unions are fundamentally for. We want to take advantage of that atmosphere to build for our strike ballot in September. On 6 July, lay reps and officials will meet with full-time officials to agree a plan for a series of campaign meetings. Those meetings will help organise the effort to mobilise the vote in the ballot, but...

I visited the picket line of our members at the British Council, who struck for three days from 15-17 June, in a dispute over job cuts. The employer wants to restructure the organisation; the demands of the dispute are for transparency in the restructure process, no compulsory redundancies, and no outsourcing or privatisation of jobs. The strikers have been boosted by the support they’ve received via social media, and from several MPs. I’ve also been meeting recently with officials from the Government Property Agency, a body which is responsible for overseeing government buildings. It will...