Wednesday morning saw the start of this year’s PCS Annual Delegates Conference. The president Janice Godrich opened the conference and apologised for the fact that Mark Serwotka was unable to attend the conference this year.

Her speech outlined the current political situation regarding the labour legacy and what would come next from the Con-Lib alliance. She went on to explain that everyone in the public sector was now under threat and that we need to get ourselves organised for the coming storm. Of the Lib-Dems changing their values to go into the alliance, she was reminded of the Groucho Marx quote:

“These are my principles, if you don’t like them I have others”

Janice then read out a letter of support from Mark Serwotka, who was in hospital undergoing tests for a heart condition. He congratulated members on their recent victory in the civil service compensation scheme dispute and thanked them for taking part in the strike action. He will be receiving DVD updates of the conference every day and has been keeping up to date with our campaign via regular press clippings. He mentioned how the nurses cheered when they heard the news that we had won our dispute. He praised the NHS staff and said they were wonderful and this has made him even more determined to defend the NHS.

He finished by thanking everyone who was standing in for him and sent his best wishes for a successful conference.

Deputy General Secretary, Hugh Lanning went on to present the PCS annual report. He thanked members for their support in PCS campaigns, which is essential to the success of the union.

“It is important to highlight what is possible when we stand together in unity and with resolve. The ruling that the government acted illegally over making unagreed changes to the civil service compensation scheme is a fantastic vindication of our determination to fight these attacks.”

The first motions of the 2010 conference all related to protecting public services.  Many other issues were debated including: redundancy pay & pensions, comercial sector, personnell policy, organising for success, protecting our reps, health & safety, international issues, affiliations, tackling pay problems, improving working conditions, evironmental issues and social & economic campaigns.

A report from each session of the conference can be viewed on the PCS website or downloaded as a word document.

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Janice explained the PCS view on the proposals and gave examples of how this would affect serving civil servants.  She explained that PCS were totally opposed to the reduction of terms and conditions of service for current employees.  She stated that PCS lawyers have the view that the proposals are unlawful and with this in mind PCS in conjunction with the other civil service trade unions will be seeking a Judicial Review.

Following her talk there was time for members to ask questions. Janice was able to give the reassurance that despite the fact that members have been notified of the proposals in a way that makes it look like they have trade union approval, this was not in fact the case.

Whilst in the area she visited two other Shropshire branches and has two more days of meetings in the West Midlands area.

On Wednesday morning national president Janice Godrich opened the 2009 annual delegates conference. She started by reminding delegates that we were meeting against the background of the worst economic crisis in living memory and that 11 million adults are now living below the breadline. She went on to say how this was affecting people with rising unemployment, bankruptcies, poverty and house possessions.

Following the opening speech, general secretary Mark Serwotka presented the annual report.  He stressed the importance of the Make Your Vote Count Campaign (MYVC), which encourages members to  find out their local election candidates views on public services.  By getting involved in this way it is hoped that more people will be encouraged to vote and become part of the election process.  He went on to say that the divide was not between private and public but betwee the haves and have nots and concluded by saying:

“I’m proud to be general secretary of this union because I think we get our priorities right. Let’s unite with other people in this country. The alternative is a decade of despair, where we offer a decade of hope.”

The first section of motions all related to the social and economic recession and how PCS members resolved to tackle these issues. The motions sought to provide better public services, regenerate the economy, defend the public sector and ensure that ordinary people don’t bear the brunt of the recession which is not of their making.

The Speeches can be viewed below, the video play time of the speech by Janice is 11 mins 57 secs and the one by Mark 31 mins 58 secs.