Mark Serwotka on Question Time

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka will be a panelist on the BBC's Question Time programme tonight.

It will be the first time Mark has appeared on what is the broadcaster’s flagship political debate show.

Issues likely to be covered include the half a million-strong March for the Alternative on Saturday and the latest situation in Libya.

The programme is on BBC1 at 10.45pm and available to watch live and later on the BBC’s iPlayer website.

If you are on Twitter you can follow updates from us @pcs_union, Question Time @bbcquestiontime and via the hashtag #bbcqt.

26 March - Thank you

A message to all PCS members from PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka and president Janice Godrich, following the hugely successful march for the alternative on Saturday 26 March.

The huge demo on Saturday was a magnificent display of trade union and community opposition to the cuts, and of the depth of support for the alternative to the government's damaging economic policy.

The PCS contingent was fantastic, bigger than some unions larger than us. We want to personally thank members and reps for attending the demo and for building it in workplaces and towns around the country. It was a great day for PCS.

Now we must ensure that the demo is a springboard for further action to defend jobs, pensions, pay and public services. The national executive committee will be meeting in April to make critical decisions on coordinating ballots for industrial action with other unions.

Mark Serwotka                       Janice Godrich
General Secretary                  President

Defence Cuts Cost : Lives

PCS is the largest non-industrial union in the Ministry of Defence, with members at every MoD establishment throughout the country and abroad.

We are the fastest growing union in the MoD and throughout the civil service. We also represent a significant number of members within the privatised defence sector and are exploring ways of enhancing the representation of members in the private sector.

We have and will continue to explain to the politicians and media alike the value that every civil servant provides and we will be asking that those in power take a strategic and coherent look at the work that our members do in support of defence.

Forty-two thousand loyal members of the armed forces and Ministry of Defence (including 7,000 from the Army, 5,000 in the Royal Navy, 5,000 Royal Air Force and 25,000 civil servants) will effectively be sacked by the prime minister under the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), the union says.

The SDSR announcement of 25,000 civilian job losses in the Ministry of Defence is a devastating blow to staff, whose loyalty and commitment in support of the front line has been thrown away in pursuit of an ideologically driven slash and burn cuts exercise.

These proposals will mean approximately 40% of the existing civilian workforce losing their jobs in the next five years. Not only will this permanently damage support to the front line, it will devastate families, communities and futures throughout the country.

Richard Murphy of the Tax Justice Network has revealed that 92 per cent of the cost of cutting public sector jobs when we have less than full employment is paid by the state, making it counter-productive economically.
The Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) was a missed opportunity.

Instead of a strategic analysis of future defence needs, we have an incoherent mess which delivers cuts in expenditure and jobs where civilians have been seen as an easy political target. The opportunity to make significant savings, by replacing military staff carrying out civilian functions has been lost. Experts such as Gerry Grimstone (Margaret Thatcher’s privatisation guru) and Sir Richard Dannatt (the previous Chief of General Staff) agree. Civilianising the approximately 40,000 non-deployable military personnel in our department can protect bases, sites and jobs and deliver support to the front line more effectively.

Our union has put this alternative to the MoD and the government many times. Similarly we have asked that the government tackles the £120 billion of tax avoided, evade or uncollected annually in this country.

It is time this government realised that Defence cannot operate without adequate funding and resources. Key resources that offer value for money are civil servants supporting the front line. Reduce the cuts facing Defence or continue undermining Defence capability: what will the ConDem coalition choose?

Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne MP, will make a Budget statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday 23 March at 12.30pm

Want to know a little background information on the budget, visit:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2011/march/budget-2011-statement/

Just four days to go until the 'March for the alternative'

Every day this week PCS will be suggesting something you can do to prepare for the big event.

Tuesday’s tip

Have a couple of key facts in your head just in case you are interviewed by the media.

There will be thousands of TV, radio, internet, newspaper and magazine journalists in London on Saturday.

Many local reporters have arranged to travel to the capital on coaches and trains to cover their communities taking part in the demo.

This is a free hit for PCS – and other unions and campaign groups – and we should be prepared to take advantage of it.

Media very rarely uses a snippet of one person lasting longer than 20 seconds – it is often nearer to ten.

So it is good to have a couple of short points to make – and to keep making them.

The key PCS message is that there is an alternative - £120 billion pounds of tax is uncollected, evaded or avoided every year and could be used to pay for important public services.

You may also like to have a key fact handy about something happening in your workplace or where you live.

How many jobs are being axed, how many children use the nursery the local authority wants to close?

You can find more information from the websites of campaign groups or your local newspaper.

PCS’s economic proposals – called ‘There is an alternative’ - can be found in detail on the union website.

Information about your workplace may be on the ‘PCS where I work’ section of the website.

If you are in another trade union check out their website for some key facts.

Of course no-one has to speak to the media – just say no politely and refer the reporter to a colleague who is more confident.

The ‘March for the alternative’ has been organised by the Trades Union Congress.

The aim is to put hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of London to highlight opposition to the government’s economic policy.

A big turnout will boost the confidence of everyone who is organising protests, strikes and occupations against the cuts.

 

On Saturday marchers are gathering at 11am at Victoria Embankment, London, WC2N 6NL and walking to Hyde Park for a rally and music.

Monday’s tip – one last push

The 'March for the alternative' - more details and transport from around the UK

'There is an alternative' - see PCS's economic arguments against the cuts

Watch the PCS video - 'Protect public services'

Watch Lorraine on the bus spreading the word about the demonstration - this has been viewed more than 6,000 times on youtube 

Tax Research UK : Public Sector Pensions a Response

Economists are opposed to the public sector pension reforms proposed by this government and Lord Hutton.

On public sector pensions, as on so much else, the government has got it wrong. 

http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2011/03/10/public-sector-pensions-a-response/

Government Urges Poor People to Die Younger

A government source told News Thump, “Society has come a long way in a hundred years, but one of the worst aspects of the modern world is that poor people now live almost as long as those of us with plenty of money to put towards our pensions.”

http://newsthump.com/2011/03/10/government-urges-poor-people-to-die-younger/

Oppose the Hutton Report : Support "The Alternative"

The coalition government is destroying public services, jobs and the economy with destructive policies.  They are robbing our society of future sustainability - taken from our pockets and our future and instead rewarding the bankers and their like.

Public sector workers face massive increases in pension’s contributions when their pay is probably frozen. That is a pay cut.

The reality facing loyal public sector workers includes massively higher pensions contributions, working for years longer for a much worse pension and all at a time cuts are threatening their jobs, which will then be axed on the cheap.

Index linking is reduced from RPI to CPI cutting pension benefits.

All of this is being justified because public sector pensions and supporting an aging population is unacceptable.

Let’s get a few things right:

There is an expected 5 % increase in age related expenditure over the next 40 years. That is £80bn extra annual spending in today’s money. Precisely zero of this is down to public sector pensions.

Government Actuarial Department figures of the cost of public sector pensions as a proportion of GDP show that they will reduce not increase over time.

So what do the ConDem cuts mean?

Increased unemployment, increased housing waiting lists, millions of disillusioned young people, the destruction of the education system, the decimation of public services the most vulnerable in our society need, a police force that is so resource short it ceases to function adequately, a defence capability no better than that of Sri Lanka and public servants condemned to poverty pay and poverty pensions.

There is an alternative, fight for your future, your children’s future and the future of this countries economy.

Join the TUC rally on the 26^th March 2011 in London.

http://marchforthealternative.org.uk/

What will be the ConDem governments legacy?

What will be the legacy of the ConDem government?

Millions unemployed, millions on the housing list, millions of disillusioned young people, the destruction of the education system, the decimation of public services the most vulnerable in our society need, a police force that is so recource short it ceases to function adequately and a defence capability no better than that of Sri Lanka.

Unions together against pensions robbery

Civil servants, teachers, university lecturers, and others have been told that from next year they will have a bigger chunk of their salary deducted from their wages to go in their pension fund.

But this is a con.

The civil service pension schemes were renegotiated in 2005 and are sustainable.

So the extra contributions from workers themselves are not necessary and will go straight to the treasury, not the pension schemes, where the government is obsessed with paying off the deficit rather than investing for jobs and growth.

While reckless fat cat bankers who caused the recession walk away with big bonuses, public sector workers will have to pay many thousands of pounds more for pensions which will be smaller because of a change in the way they are calculated.

It is believed that pensions contributions will increase by at least an additional 3% of salary – with details to be discussed at union negotiations.

The government has set pre-conditions on negotiations saying that pension contributions by public sector workers will increase whatever happens during planned talks.

In response, PCS and other unions will talk to ministers, but plan for co-ordinated ballots on industrial action if the government presses ahead with attacks on public sector pensions.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka met with other leaders at the Trades Union Congress in London to discuss the best way of resisting the changes.

The university lecturers union has already named dates for strike action over pensions

Other teachers’ unions are considering holding ballots.

The PCS national executive committee is monitoring the situation closely and will meet in late March to decide if the time is right to ballot for action.

Support the campaign

• Don’t miss the ‘March for the alternative’ on Saturday 26 March - bring colleagues, friends and family
• Make sure everyone you work with is in the union – it maybe that no-one has ever asked them
• Distribute the PCS pamphlet ‘There is an alternative...’ – which argues that cuts are unnecessary
• Teacher calls for joint action over pensions
• ‘We will oppose unfair and unnecessary tax on members' – PCS press release
• Guardian article: 'Million strong strike planned over pensions'

Independent Public Service Pensions Commission: The Hutton Report

Released today, the Hutton report attacks public sector pension:

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/indreview_johnhutton_pensions.htm

• Millions of public sector workers to work longer for lower pensions
• State workers such as nurses, police and teachers to lose their final salary pensions and instead receive payments linked to their average salary over the course of their career
• Members of the armed forces, police and firefighters -- who currently have a pension age of 50 or 55 -- should not not get their full pension until they are 60

The ConDem coalition are destroying public services: services that every individual within the United Kingdom will need and use. 

The cutting of hundreds of thousands of jobs from the public sector will undermine economic recovery and growth, as well as destroying the services themselves.

Unscrupulous politicians changed the law to attack the Civil Service Compensation scheme to cut jobs on the cheap.

Low paid public servants will be condemned to poverty pensions.

It is time to change: 

March for the Alternative 26^th March 2011

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/campaigns/campaign-resources/the-alternative--the-monthly-campaign-newsletter-from-pcs.cfm

MoD paid £22 for 65p light bulb

The Ministry of Defence has admitted it has been paying £22 for a light bulb worth 65p.

Defence chiefs are also said to have paid £103 each for screws, believed to be on sale online for £2.60.

These examples of spending gone mad are directly as a result of de-valuing civil servants who are the best people to safeguard the public purse and drive value for money procurement.

Instead, the continuing obsession with privatisation, where contractors add their profit slice to any contract, leaves people open mouthed when such wastes of public money are highlighted.

The ConDem coalition is destroying 25,000 civilian jobs in the Ministry of Defence. Many of these jobs are in remote rural locations, where their loss will destroy the local economy.

The politically driven cuts defence face will directly impact on the front line and the defence capabilities of the United Kingdom.

The RAF will be cut by 12 per cent, the Royal Navy by 14 per cent and the army by almost 7 per cent.

The cuts will leave the UK armed forces with around 159,000 personnel, a force smaller than the armed forces of Sri Lanka and about the same level and Bangladesh.

There is an alternative to job cuts:

• Employ civil servants to protect the public purse and drive value for money procurement
• There is no need for cuts to public services or further privatisations
• Creating jobs will boost the economy and cut the deficit. Cutting jobs will damage the economy and increase the deficit
• We should invest in areas such as housing, renewable energy and public transport
• The UK debt is lower than other major economies
• There is a £120 billion tax gap of evaded, avoided and uncollected tax
• The UK holds £850 billion in banking assets from the bailout – this is more than the national debt
• End the use of consultants

Jobs freeze will hurt economy more than snow

Responding to the government's plans to extend the civil service recruitment freeze indefinitely, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said:

 "After official figures confirmed last week that the economy shrank in the final quarter of 2010, the government seems determined to drive it down even further by cutting investment from the only sector that showed any growth - the public sector.

"Instead of arrogantly ploughing on with cuts, which are already damaging our public finances, the government should have the strength to admit it was wrong, change course, and create jobs to invest in our economy."

'Greenest government ever' sacks rural agency staff

Thirty nine of the staff at the Commission for Rural Communities have been told they will be leaving on 31 March and more will follow between March and August, meaning the organisation will go from having 85 staff in June 2010 to just three.

The commission’s budget was cut by 93.5% from £6.94 million in 2009/10 to £450,000 for 2011/12.

The cuts will be damaging to rural economies and could leave the commission unable to carry out its statutory functions before it is formally abolished next year, the union says.

The news comes as the union is considering holding a ballot for national industrial action over cuts to jobs and pensions, and talking to other unions about co-ordinated action.

The commission was set up by an act of parliament in 2005 to work with government departments and other public bodies to tackle social exclusion and disadvantage in rural communities, by improving services; access, such as broadband internet; and transport, as well as promoting sustainable development. It can only be abolished by further legislation.

The union said it was perverse that the Tory-led government is choosing to abolish the commission and England’s nine regional development agencies - bodies which deliver essential work to support and improve the lives of those living in rural communities.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "One minute the government boasts about its commitment to 'localism', and the next it scraps the very organisations that champion our local communities.

"The idea that you can centralise these functions in the 'rural idyll' of Whitehall would be laughable if it didn’t have such devastating consequences for people’s livelihoods and our rural economies."

March for the Alternative - London Saturday 26 March

The flagship demonstration against coalition government cuts is the March for the Alternative – organised by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) on Saturday 26 March. Details of transport are available from this page. 
If you are organising transport to the demonstration and are happy for us to add the details to this page, please contact Karina Rayment - karina@pcs.org.uk.

Protesters from all over the UK will gather at 11am at the Victoria Embankment, London, WC2N 6NL.
There will be a march to Hyde Park for a rally. 

The TUC is the umbrella organisation for trades unions in Britain.

Coaches and trains are being chartered from the four corners of the country to take trades unionists and their supporters to London.

PCS members are urged to attend with friends and family – to oppose the massive attack on jobs and working conditions being faced across the union.

See who else is going and sign up to receive the latest news.

A big demo will give working people a glimpse of their strength and the confidence to take the battle forward.

• For more details of the day’s events see the TUC’s web page and follow March26March on twitter.
• For details of the nationwide campaign against the cuts see the trade union sponsored False Economy website. 
• Details on disabled access for the demo.