Ballot Meetings

On Wednesday 1st October Tony Conway, member of the National Executive Committee, will be addressing members at Frances House and Lothersdale House about the ballot for strike action.

The first meeting will commence at 12:30 in the car park at Frances House and Tony will then travel to Wellingborough and address a second car park meeting at Lothersdale House at about 1.30pm.

The meetings will last approximately 15 minutes so please attend if you can.

PCS Conference

Mark Edwards and myself attended this year's DWP Group Conference (19th - 20th May), as well as the National Conference (21st-23rd May) as delegates for the Northamptonshire branch. As always I left Brighton feeling inspired and reinvigorated, although the conference was hard work (honestly!) and occasionally painful!





The Price of Everything...


Jane Aitchison, who was re-elected as the DWP Group President, started things off by thanking reps and members for their hardwork and dedication, especially on the 24th April when the overwhelming majority of members supported the strike action.

Jane criticised the imposed pay "deal" for PCS staff, which leaves the majority of staff with a pay cut due to the rate of inflation and many long serving staff with a 0% pay rise. The claim that there simply isn't enough money was put into focus when she gave examples of some of the things DWP has found the money for. They included personal grooming courses for Senior Managers at a cost of £967 per person, pay rises of between 6.5% & 7.6% for senior managers and (my favourite) Jobcentre Plus mirrors for the long term unemployed. Customers are advised to use the mirrors to:

• Practice smiling in



• Check that they don't have somrthing in between their teeth before an interview



• And to look into whilst repeating five times "I am a tiger"!

Pay Campaign

One of the biggest debates was around the tactics for the continuing pay campaign. The Group Executive proposed continuing with a similar strategy, with consideration for targeted action and action short of a strike, whilst ensuring members were regularly consulted.

Some branches felt the current stategy wasn't working. They proposed selective action. In other words, "key parts" of the business (for example Benefit Processing Centres) could go out on long term strike action. They argued that extra funds should be raised by putting a levy on all members and this could be used to help those involved in the selective action.

However the overwhelming majority of delegates voted with the GEC, feeling that selective action forced a minority of members to fight the campaign on behalf of the majority.

Local Pensions & CSA

Other motions were also passed on the first day committing PCS to fight for staff transferring from CSA to CMEC and ensure they maintain their civil service status, as well as a concerted campaign to ensure adequate staffing levels for in Local Pension Service.

Life Membership

Day One ended with the decision to award Distinguished Life Membership to retired reps who have done so much for PCS and it's predecessor union. We were especially pleased to hear that Ralph Baxter was amongst those included.

Domestic Violence

This is a subject which I have felt passionate about for many years. It has always shocked and saddened me how many of my close friends have been affected by this issue. I was pleased to speak on motion A118 which called for DWP to develop a coherent policy allowing special paid leave to those victims who face the trauma of attacks and their aftermath. The motion was overwhelmingly passed.

GEC Elections

You should all have received your ballot paper for the GEC by now. Your Branch Committee nominated the following people at its AGM and would now urge you to vote for them, as we believe they are the people with the best policies, and will do the best to win the ongoing campaigns:

PRESIDENT - Jane Aitchison

VICE PRESIDENTS - Alan Brown, Martin Cavanagh, Martin John, Laura Martin, John McInally

ASSISTANT SECRETARIES - Dave Burke, Christine Cuthbert, Stewart Dalley, Sam Hall, Tom Penn, Dave Richards, Rob Williams.

ORGANISER - Fran Heathcote

TREASURER - Bashir Chilwan

GEC MEMBERS: Dave Alston, Paul Barton, Alison Carass, Jason Ferraby, Helen Flanagan, Janice Godrich, Gavin Hartley, Melissa Howe, Martin Jones, Adam Khalif, Dave Owens, Carol Revell, Sian Ruddick, Jagdeep Sandhu, Nigel Sheahan, Melanie Sinclair, Derek Thomson, Yvonne Washbourne, Steve West, Katrine Williams, Carol Worthington.

Further One Day Strike Called

A further one day's strike has been called for April 24. This strike is taking place the same day as action by nine other Government Departments as well as teachers and lecturers.

Only through supporting this action can we hope to win our campaign against the below inflation pay rise we will be getting this year. Please show your support on the day, and consider joining reps on the picket lines to demonstrate how you feel.

Campaigns Update

This document which you need Adobe to open, provides important information regarding ongoing campaigns. As you will see an agreement has been reached which will provide valuably needed extra protection for anybody marked surplus. This agreement has been reached through the hard work and negotiating skills of your national reps.

There is also some disturbing statistics about inflation which further demonstrates how poor the pay offer which has been forced on you actually is.

Although we have had a victory in the national campaign, the Departmental pay campaign is still ongoing. Whenever we have further information to provide we will do so.

Overtime Ban Starts Now!

As part of the industrial action all members are requested to refuse any offers of overtime.

Approximately eighty percent of members across our branch took part in the strike action earlier this week. By working overtime management are hoping to lessen the impact of this action.

We all know how difficult it is to go out on strike and sacrifice a couple of days pay. None of us are paid a fortune and no one can easily afford to have less money coming in. But that is the reason for the industrial action. The pay imposition is designed to ensure that most staff will receive a pay cut in real terms over the next three years.

It may be tempting for some to work overtime in the next few weeks. But by doing so you are personally responsible for undermining the financial sacrifice made by the members who went out on strike.

Over the next three years there are plans to reduce the number of staff in DWP by a further 12,000. Every member who crosses a picket line or works overtime is weakening the union's position. The union needs to be stronger than ever if it is to resist these cuts. Is a couple of days overtime really worth weakening PCS? Because never forget, no ones job is safe.

Thank You All For Your Support

Your Branch Committee would like to thank you all sincerely for your support for the industrial action this week. The support was as strong as the last action in December, showing how strongly you all feel about the derisory pay offer that has been imposed on us all.

Do not forget that an overtime ban is now in place for two weeks. Working overtime undermines the action that we have taken and sends false messages as to how much we are willing to do for an hourly wage which is lower than we all deserve.

Everybody needs a weekend off to refresh our batteries so we can work to our potential during the normal working week, and certainly everybody deserves the long break that the Easter holidays provide for us.

Your Group Executive Committee will shortly be writing to you to thank you for your support and giving more information on the campaign

PLEASE SUPPORT THE OVERTIME BAN

Health and Safety Reps

We are looking to recruit more health and safety reps within the branch. Health and safety reps play a key role in ensuring that staff are looked after properly and that managers adhere to DWP Health and Safety guidance and we are concerned that several sites do not have a trained rep on site.

Health and safety reps only deal with issues regarding health and safety. They would not be expected to handle disciplinary cases or negotiate with managers on behalf of members. We have several experienced reps in place, so we would ensure that any new reps received all the support and help that they need.

There are plans for a PCS Health & Safety course in the near future. If you are interested in becoming a rep please let me or one of the other reps know.

New Faces

We are pleased to announce that we have two new reps, both from Corby Debt Centre.

Caroline Henderson was elected as a site rep in a ballot held in the run up to the Annual General Meeting. After years of the branch committee being dominated by middle aged, white,(overweight?) males (and yes I include myself in that category) it is great to see young enthusiastic members like Caroline taking a more active role. Without young activists coming through the branch, indeed the union, will not be able to thrive in the future.

Joanne Rhoden has also taken up the role of a Health and Safety rep. Her extensive health and safety training and experience is a real boost to the branch and to the members in Corby Debt Centre. We are really pleased to have her on board.

Sadly however we have lost the services of Paul Cross, who has been a site rep at Corby for the last year. He no longer feels that he can stay on as a rep, but we are grateful for the numerous personal cases he undertook and the excellent recruitment work that he did.

Strike Days Announced

Two further days of industrial action have been announced after further talks with management about the imposed pay offer broke down. On the 17th and 18th March PCS members across DWP will refuse to go to work to show their outrage at this frankly scandalous pay offer.

For many long serving staff this pay imposition equates to a mere 1% per year for the next three years. With the Retail Price Index showing that the cost of living has increased to above 4% the truth is that all we have been offered is a year on year pay cut.

Some members feel that we should have gone ahead with the proposed strike on 31st January. However if PCS had refused to enter into further discussions with the Treasury, it would look as if we were not serious about trying to reach an agreement. Since management failed to offer anything new during these talks it is now obvious which side really wanted to make these talks work.

Other members feel that we should be taking any strike action at all. Members know that by taking part in a strike that they will suffer financially at the end of the month. But failiure to fight this pay cut in real terms, would be resigning youself and your colleagues to suffering financially every month for the next three years. And for anyone approaching retirement in the next few years this pay cut will affect their pension forever.

The unions strength lies in its' membership. Managers at local and national level discuss and negotiate with PCS officials because they represent three quarters of their workforce. Non members, even those who boast about crossing picket lines, often turn to reps for help or advice when they have a problem themselves. Why? Because they know that the union does have influence.

Every single member has influence. The decision made by every single member on 17th and 18th March is crucial. Everyone who crosses the picketline is saying that they are happy to do more and more work for less money. They are saying that the announced 12,000 jobs loses in the next three years is ok with them.

I have been asked if I think we can win this fight. Honestly, I believe we can. We can if you the members are prepared to fight. But if we chose not to fight, then we have already lost.