Yesterday we had our first PCS regional meeting for about three months. What with the general election and the campaign to save the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS) we hadn’t found time to get together before now.
For some reason I got rather confused and caught the train an hour earlier than I needed to. I am not sure if I was in my other meeting mode which starts an hour earlier or if I was in my breakfast before meeting mode (we do that sometimes) or if I was just being ditsy.
It was rather odd to see Birmingham when it was quiet and not completely open for business. However some of it was open and instead of stopping for that cup of tea I had promised myself, I got sidetracked by the shops and dresses and shoes… I blame my colleagues for not travelling with me because they were at a different meeting elsewhere, they would have whisked my straight past the shops. Or perhaps because we would have arranged to meet on the train I would have been on the right train in the first place with no time for browsing around.
In other news; around two weeks ago the CSCS case was taken back to court because PCS and the new government couldn’t reach an agreement on the way forward. Today the high court judge has delivered his ruling:
Mr Justice Sales confirmed today, PCS was right to challenge the way the terms of the civil service compensation scheme, which governs redundancy payments, were slashed.
The decision quashes an amendment to the scheme that the previous government had claimed was effective from 1 April, and requires the new government to enter negotiations with PCS if it wants to change the scheme in future.
While the judge quashed the detrimental changes to the scheme, he retained elements – relating to protection against age discrimination – that provide improvements. The union says this shows it was not opposed to change on principle, but that any alterations had to be fair and agreed.
What did you buy?
I bought the blue dress in the photo and also a pair of black wedge sandals which feel very elegant to wear
Hi Cherry Pie! I can see how you wuld be enticed by the shops in Birmingham. I haven’t been there for a while and am missing it:)
Hi Midwest, I luckily get the opportunity to visit quite regularly and normally I am found in the bookshops which I avoided completely this time. The food fair was also happening this week which made for a great atmosphere.
I hope you get chance to visit Birmingham again soon
For some reason I got rather confused and caught the train an hour earlier than I needed to.
Absolutely nothing wrong with that – I do it all the time now.
Yes I noticed you do that breakfast before work thing too
I do have a really funny anecdote from the last time we did that, but I best not post it here LOL