All MoD redundancies are "grotesque"

The largest civil service union, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has reacted with fury at the less than subtle inference made by the Defence Select Committee that their should be compulsory redundancies for MoD civilian staff.

PCS believes there is no need for any redundancies within the Ministry of Defence and we are actively working with the department to identify alternative savings measures. So far we have identified approximately £100m of savings from the FATS contract and this week we have started work alongside departmental officials to identify savings in MoD external expenditure. Against PCS advice, the MoD had previously used consultants costing £4k a day to do this work.

It is abhorrent that politicians from all the mainstream parties have lined up to take pot shots at MoD civil servants because they have volunteered for redundancy.

PCS finds it difficult to comprehend how we have moved to such an uncaring society when we would rather simply sack thousands of staff to get a media sound bite, rather than give staff who have given loyal, dedicated staff a decent pay off.

Bob Rollings, PCS MoD group secretary said: 

“PCS wants the best possible support for the front line. Any redundancies, whether they be civilian or military are putting this support at risk. PCS has an agreement with the MoD that if we can identify savings alternatives, the money saved can be offset against job cuts targets. This work is already bearing fruit as substantial savings have been identified. Incidentally the savings already identified would pay for the bill for TU facility time for 50 years in the Ministry of Defence."

“It is extremely disheartening that at a time when we are trying to do positive work with the department we are attacked by the Defence Select Committee. For over two years, our union’s representatives have been trying to arrange meetings with this committee to discuss issues like this.”

“We are willing to meet the Defence Select Committee, the NAO or anybody else who wishes to discuss the future of the MoD. One thing our union will not do is to stand aside and allow PCS members who are civilian MoD workers be made compulsory redundant to satisfy political or media whims.”

Heard of the Company that runs Britain - SERCO

Most of the public will never have heard of Serco, a FTSE 100 company that does all of the above and more.

It inspects schools, trains our armed forces, helps protect our borders, maintains our nuclear weapons, runs our trains and operates our prisons.

It has benefited immensely from the culture of outsourcing public services and will continue to do so as the Government continues to cut public services.

The outsourcing of key parts the Ministry of Defence (MoD) will provide huge new business openings for specialists Serco who are bidding to run Defence Business Services, an organisation designed to serve the whole of the department's human resources and finance operations.

There is huge concern among civil service unions that business delivery risk remains with the MoD and extensive cost cutting programmes involved in the contract will destroy defence outputs.

Mark Serwotka on Radio 4's Any Questions Friday 20th January 2012

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka will make his first appearance on the UK's flagship radio discussion programme tomorrow evening (Friday 20 January).

 

Mark is a guest on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions which is being recorded at the Anglo-European School, Ingatestone, Essex.

The show will be broadcast at 8pm tomorrow (Friday) and repeated at 1.10pm on Saturday afternoon.

Anyone who wants to back Mark up can take part in Any Answers which follows Saturday’s programme  by ringing 03700 100 444 or emailing any.answers@bbc.co.uk

Other guests on this week’s show include Labour politician Tessa Jowell, Liberal Democrat cabinet member Danny Alexander and Peter Oborne, chief political commentator of the Daily Telegraph.

Mark appeared on BBC TV’s Question Time in the week after the massive trade union ‘March for the alternative’ in March. During the broadcast the word ‘Serwotka’ was one of the 10 most mentioned subjects worldwide on the social networking website Twitter.

Earlier this month Mark took part in the BBC HARDTalk programme – a 24 minute TV interview shown and repeated all over the world.

Mark has been given the chance to appear in the mainstream media arguing for PCS policies because of the enormous efforts made by reps and members to give the union a high profile.

The Grim Truth of Public Sector Cuts

Public sector job cuts will have a devastating impact on local communities, the Trades Union Congress has warned.

Its analysis of which regions will be hardest hit by the loss of 710,000 jobs in the public sector concluded that the north-east of England and Northern Ireland would suffer most.

Unemployment levels in the north-east will hit 11.7%, it is projected, compared to 6.1% in the south-east of England. The north-east will see a 2.9% fall in the number of jobs available locally.

"Apart from the huge effect that the job cuts will have upon the provision of public services across the UK, mass redundancies across the public sector are bad news for our struggling economy, and will have a devastating impact upon local high streets, as newly-unemployed public sector workers simply stop spending," TUC general secretary Brendan Barber warned.

MoD announces further 4,200 armed forces personnel cuts

The defence secretary has justified the decision to axe a further 4,200 jobs from the armed forces by insisting he had "no choice" because of the appalling state of military finances.

As the Ministry of Defence confirmed details of the second tranche of a painful redundancy programme, Philip Hammond also claimed the new cuts would not affect operations in Afghanistan.

In a statement, the MoD revealed it was looking to shed 2,900 posts from the army, around 1,000 from the RAF and 300 from the Royal Navy.

The total is higher than the first round of the process last year, and there are expected to be more compulsory redundancy notices this time.

The MoD is being decimated: why can the government not see that Defence Cuts Cost Lives