Yesterday was extremely busy and involved me getting up at the crack of dawn, which is unheard of for me.  The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union took joint industrial action with three teachers unions (National Union of Teachers (NUT), University and College Union (UCU) and Association of Teacher and Lecturers (ATL)).  These unions are trying to persuade the government that changes to public sector pensions and the sweeping cuts to the public sector are unnecessary and avoidable.  The one day strike could have been avoided if the government had engaged in meaningful negotiations and given ground on some of the key issues on the proposed changes to pensions.  Pension contributions of public sector workers are set to double or triple and the proposed age for claiming the pension could rise from 60 to 65 and eventually 68.

Yesterday saw picket lines outside schools and Civil Service establishments.  My workplace had picket lines outside each entrance and as I am on the PCS branch committee I was there, camera in hand.

PCS and Unite (who have a large membership in government pension schemes)  have recently signed an agreement to take part in joint campaigning.  Unite were unable to ballot their members in the time frame so they were unable to take part in the joint industrial action although  they were  able to show their support and help out in other ways.     There are a large number of Unite members at my workplace, a considerable number of them stopped their cars on the way into work so that they could talk the people on the picket lines.  This caused further disruption by causing the traffic to queue at times.

At lunch time the Unite members marched out of work to join the trade unionists who had been taking strike action and members of the public for a short march.  This was followed by a lunch time rally, which was so well attended that people spilled out from the main hall into adjoining rooms.  The rally was addressed by speakers from each of the unions including Gail Cartmail, Assistant General Secretary of Unite.  Gail exposed many myths that are pedalled by the media about public sector pensions and public sector cuts, after each exposé she got the room chanting “Its a big fat lie“.

The day was a huge success both locally and nationally.  The estimated turn out for my branch was 88% of members, with around 500 people taking part in the march

More information on the myths about the public sector can be found here.

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

I had to get up early to man the picket line which in our case meant standing well away from workers driving into the car park for fear of being run over. There have been quite a few incidences of near misses due to people looking in totally the wrong direction (because they are too embarrassed to look at us) when entering the car parks. It was rather chilly and my back seized up a bit due to standing around for too long, but it didn’t rain even though there was an ominous black cloud overhead.

Following that I had to take my car home and get to my local railway station so that I could attend a rally and demo in Birmingham.   During the 20 minute walk from my house to the station I lost the heel off my shoe! One of my colleagues knew there was a shoe repair place on the way out of the station at Birmingham. I went in only to find that the sole of my shoe had split too!!!

I needed replacement shoes, so now I was a woman on a mission! I rushed up the street into the Clarke’s shoe shop  and did a quick scan of the shoes and found just the type I needed and prayed they had them in my size. They did (which is unusual) and I tried them on and they fitted perfectly. I explained the situation and was allowed to keep the shoes on, all that was needed was the label of the shoe bottom to scan in for me to make the purchase. To top it all  the assistant kindly offered to dispose of my less than adequate shoes. Who says a girl can’t shop in 10 minutes flat

I got to Victoria Square in plenty of time for the demo which was followed by a rally in the Britannia Hotel, plenty of time for catching up with my colleagues and a well earned evening meal before the train journey home.

So it will be another early start to another busy day for me. I shall be outside my workplace for an hour or so and then I shall make my way over to Birmingham for a rally. I think I might get rather wet because the weather doesn’t look to promising, so wish me luck.

I nearly forgot to add that I am likely to be appearing in a town near you too

The stoppage, called by PCS, follows a strongly supported two day strike earlier in March which saw up to 200,000 civil and public servants stay away from work over changes to the civil service compensation scheme.

Tomorrow’s strike, the first ever on budget day, involves Prison workers, Jobcentre staff, tax workers, passport staff, court officials, Ministry of Defence workers and driving test examiners. The stoppage will also see civilian staff and 999 operators working for the Met Police walking out as well as security staff working in the Houses of Parliament. Serious Organised Crime Agency officers will also be on strike affecting operations tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning will see a battle bus taking to the streets in London touring picket lines including: The Royal Courts of Justice, The Houses of Parliament, The Victoria and Albert Museum, British Library, Tate Modern and government departments in Whitehall including the Treasury.

In London there will also be a campaign boat cruising up and down the Thames outside the Houses of Parliament and a demonstration in Parliament Square from 11 am to 1pm.

In Scotland, there will be a demonstration at the Mound in Edinburgh from 10.30 am and a short ‘alternative budget’ will be presented at 11.00 am. In Glasgow, members will gather at Labour Party HQ, West Regent Street, at 11 am and hand in a letter to the Scottish Labour leader.

Wales will see a budget day demonstration and rally on the steps of Senedd, Cardiff Bay from 12 noon to 4:00pm. The last two day stoppage saw the cancellation of business in the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament as assembly members and MSP refused to cross picket lines.

The government have ignored PCS offers to resolve the dispute by negotiations rather than strike action. This has led to PCS members planning further industrial action on budget day next week:

Legal and Strategy Update – 18th March

The NEC meets on Thursday 25 March to plan the CSCS campaign through April. A factor to be be considered will be the decision of the courts today to set the hearing date for our Judicial Review on the CSCS changes for 22/23 April.

PCS is both disappointed that this is not much earlier, but also pleased that at long last the management delays have been brought to a halt and that we now will have a full hearing of our case

Plans for the 19 and 24 March

Following successful strike action by PCS members on the 8 and 9 March, we are now preparing for a UK-wide campaigning day on 19 March and strike on 24 March, budget day.

This action would not be necessary if the government had met with us to negotiate a settlement. Tessa Jowell has regrettably refused to meet with PCS and we have now written to Gordon Brown calling for a negotiated agreement.

A UK-wide day of campaigning is planned for 19 March, with events taking place across the country. The PCS battle bus will also be touring London, visiting key parliamentary constituencies including Tessa Jowell’s constituency of Dulwich and West Norwood, and meeting general secretaries from other unions. Branches are asked to leaflet the public at lunchtimes and after work on the day too. Full details of the battlebus schedule route will follow.

A strong strike is expected for budget day on the 24 March alongside a national overtime ban. Picket lines are being organised across the UK. The battle bus will again be touring London, alongside a ‘battleboat’ that will be taking our message to Parliament via the Thames. There will be a range of activities in Whitehall, Parliament Square from 11am to coincide with the chancellor delivering his budget speech. All pickets and members in London should make their way to parliament square for 11am where we will direct them to a number of protest points. For further details contact our organising and learning department.

As the campaign continues, the number of membership applications across the union has doubled in recent weeks, with over 900 staff joining PCS from the Department for Work and Pensions alone.

PCS are still committed to resolving the dispute by reaching a negotiated settlement. Unfortunately Tessa Jowell has ignored letters offering this, therefore Mark Serwotka, PCS General Secretary has now written directly to Gordon Brown:

16 March 2010

Dear Prime Minister

I am writing to you regarding the dispute over the changes to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS). The changes to the CSCS represent a cut in members’ entitlements in the case of redundancy and would tear up members’ accrued rights. We welcome the fact that, through prior negotiations, some improvements were made after we had made representations. The current proposals, however, still leave almost half of our members worse off, many of whom are low paid.

As you will be aware, our members’ took two days of well-supported industrial action on 8th and 9th March, and further national strike action is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 24th March, Budget Day. However, I am writing to re-affirm that PCS remains committed to achieving a resolution to this dispute through negotiations. Indeed, it is only through a negotiated settlement that this matter can be resolved.

I read your comments relating to the BA dispute over the weekend, and your wish “to find a way in which the two sides can get together – the BA management and the BA workforce”.

We have now written twice to Cabinet Office Minister Tessa Jowell offering talks, stating that in order to facilitate an agreement we would be willing to use the services provided by ACAS. Sadly, we have received no response from the Minister. We were also dismayed by the Minister’s remarks in Parliament that “there is no question of any further negotiation”.

We have previously put forward proposals that would achieve the savings you have said are necessary, while protecting existing members’ entitlements. We therefore believe an agreement is possible to avoid further damaging action. I very much hope that if you believe talks are the solution in the BA dispute then you will ensure talks take place immediately for your own employees.

There is considerable strength of feeling among PCS members on this issue, demonstrated by the strong support on 8th and 9th March. That depth of feeling is reflected among backbench MPs, some 164 of whom (and well over 100 of whom are Labour) have now signed EDM 251 ‘Civil Service Compensation Scheme’.

I look forward to your urgent response, and hope to re-engage in talks with the Government at the earliest opportunity.

Yours sincerely

Mark Serwotka
General Secretary

The action plan detailing the events and rallies that are planned for the day can be viewed here.

Clarence Darrow

Looking windswept in London

The stalwarts got up early to man the picket lines again.  The temperature was only -1 today but it still felt rather chilly until the sun came out. We shared this duty with another department that occupies the building with us. Some of their colleagues very kindly brought hot coffee and biscuits out for us, which was very welcome To warm up at the end of our duty we visited the local all day breakfast establishment where I had a tasty bacon buttie and a welcome cup of tea.

Mark Serwotka, General Secretary commenting in the latest edition of PCS view:

In 1987, Margaret Thatcher – who made huge cuts in the civil service – approved the current terms of our compensation scheme. If it was a fair scheme then, why does the present Labour government tell us that it is not fair now for the people who, for years, have suffered low pay on the basis that they have secure jobs?

The answer seems to lie in the fact that Gordon Brown believes it would be wrong to take parliamentary action to curb bankers’ bonuses because they are a contractual right, but it is apparently all right for the contractual rights of civil and public servants to be ripped up to save money.

Gus O’Donnell has written to civil servants to tell them the cuts are ‘fair and reasonable’ and concessions have been made to the low paid. But almost half of PCS members would be worse off, in some cases by tens of thousands of pounds. PCS does not accept that this is a fair and reasonable way to save money to pay for a financial crisis caused by the greed and stupidity of the banks.

Mr O’Donnell was quick to tell us that other unions have accepted the fairness of the proposals. It is disappointing that some unions have accepted cuts in their members’ entitlements and allowed themselves to be cited by him in his demand that PCS members should ‘think hard about how to vote’ in the ballot. But that is for them. PCS represents almost three times the number of civil and public servants than the other unions combined.

PCS cannot accept changes to the scheme which would leave almost half of our union suffering a detriment. We must be united to win protection for the other half. An agreement with the government which saves money and protects all members’ existing entitlements is affordable and possible.

Taking industrial action is never an easy decision to take but this national ballot is the most important one for PCS members in years.

The political parties are all talking about massive public spending cuts after the next general election. The government’s changes to the compensation scheme are clearly designed to make it cheaper and easier to cut and privatise our jobs, whether by a Labour or Tory government.

We must build the pressure on the government to reach an agreement which is truly fair to its own employees.

The updated photo gallery of picket lines in Shropshire can be found here.

Hundreds of civil servants across Shropshire launched a 48-hour strike joining the 270,000 that are expected to strike around the country in a row over redundancy pay. This is the biggest walk out of civil servants since 1987. We received welcome support from passing motorists and colleagues from other Trade Unions.

We are taking action because the Government have scrapped the old terms and conditions of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme and, after several months negotiating with Trade Unions, decided to impose new terms without mutual agreement. The PCS Union is seeking to get back to the negotiating table and come to a mutually agreeable set of terms and conditions.

After manning picket lines I met up with other Shropshire activists to attended a march and rally in Birmingham along with around 200 other people from across the Midlands region. The rally was addressed by the Midlands Regional Chairman, Tony Conway, the PCS Assistant Secretary, Chris Baugh, and speakers from Amicus, NUT and the FBU, who generously presented us with a donation of £1000 towards the hardship fund.

After the rally there was time for a relaxing drink with friends and colleagues before heading home for a well earned rest.

Related links:

Shropshire Star Front Page

Shropshire Star – Workers Walk Out

Picket Lines Photo Gallery

Birmingham March & Rally Photo Gallery

On 2nd  February 2010 the revised terms and conditions of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme were published.  You will note the spin in the papers and on the civil service website that 5 unions agreed to the new terms:

These reflect the outcome of further discussions with the unions and have been agreed between the Cabinet Office and the FDA, Prospect, the GMB, Unite and the Prison Officers’ Association

Those 5 unions represent only a small proportion of civil servants, the vast majority being represented by the PCS union who were still negotiating the proposed terms.  Concessions had been made by both the cabinet office and PCS when the cabinet office ceased negotiations and and imposed the new set of rules.

PCS decided the only option was to ballot the members to see if they were willing to take strike action and/or action short of a strike to defend their terms and conditions.  The results of the ballot were published today:

Up to 270,000 civil and public servants from across the UK are set to launch a month of industrial action with a 48 hour strike on 8 and 9 March in a dispute over unilateral changes to redundancy terms,PCS announced today.

Strike action could hit civil and public services every week of next month from Monday 8 March following strong support in a ballot which saw 63.4% of those voting backing strike action and 81.4% supporting an overtime ban.

The strikes, which will involve Jobcentre staff, tax workers, coastguards, border agency officials, courts staff and driving test examiners, are a result of the government and Cabinet Office making unilateral changes to the civil service compensation scheme.

The changes will see staff robbed of up to a third of their entitlements and see loyal civil and public servants lose tens of thousands of pounds if they are forced out of a job. The government is looking to save £500 million through the changes, based on the number of jobs it has axed over the last three years.

With all the main political parties planning deep spending cuts, the union fears that the cuts to the scheme will lead to tens of thousands of job losses on the cheap.

The union’s national executive committee will be meeting next week on 2, 3 and 4 March to finalise further strike dates, which could include national walkouts and targeted strike action.

Commenting, Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “These cuts, which will see loyal civil and public servants lose tens of thousands of pounds if they are forced out of a job, are more about crude politicking than making savings.

“We have suggested ways in which the government can make these savings whilst protecting the rights of existing members, yet it seems intent on penalising the people who keep this country running.

“With civil and public service jobs increasingly at risk, this is a cynical attempt to cut jobs on the cheap which will ultimately damage the services we all rely on. The government needs to recognise the depth of anger which has been demonstrated by this ballot result and find the political will to negotiate a settlement that avoids a sustained campaign of industrial action.”

Some final thoughts from me:-

The other unions didn’t ask their members what they thought about the new terms, they just decided on behalf of the membership. I know that some of the members of those unions are angry about that and would not have agreed to the terms if their union had asked them.

The PCS union is not affiliated to any political party.

Strike action is always a last resort which comes about because meaningful communications have broken down!

My original post on the proposals can be viewed here.