Lord Hutton to Chair Coalitions mutual joint venture My Civil Service Pension

The former Cabinet minister Lord Hutton will this week be named as chairman of the first company to be spun out of Whitehall as part of the Government's vision to create a "John Lewis economy" of employee-owned businesses.

Lord Hutton will lead the My Civil Service Pension (MyCSP), an operation that manages the retirement funds of 1.5 million civil servants. As part of the transfer into a new ownership structure, staff will be handed 25 per cent of the firm. A private-sector partner will take a 40 per cent stake, while the Government will retain 35 per cent.

The move is predicated on cutting the public sector by creating more mutually-owned businesses.

What is not being said is that the civil servants working in MyCSP have taken industrial action in opposition to the proposals and do not endorse this privatisation by the back door.

Local or Regional Pay is flawed

Fundamentally inaccurate is the assertion by the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, that private sector pay is set in accordance with local labour markets. Data mined by independent research bodies actually reveal that most large, multi-site, private sector companies have national pay structures.

Therefore, despite the government's desire to justify more attacks on public sector pay – right across the public sector – it is important to recognise that the private sector has abandoned the concept of local/regional pay.

UK Living Wage

The Living Wage Campaign calls for every worker in the country to earn enough to provide their family with the essentials of life.

The Living Wage is an hourly rate, set independently, every year. It is calculated according to cost of living and gives the minimum pay rate required for a worker to provide their family with the essentials of life.

In London the current rate is £8.30 per hour.
Outside of London the current rate is £7.20.

Paying the Living Wage is good for business, good for the individual and good for society.

Thinktank the Resolution Foundation has looked at workers up and down the country earning less than a "living wage". It found that more than one in five employees falls into this group, echoing recent work by the TUC, which uncovered what it called a "livelihood crisis" among the growing swathe of the workforce stuck in low-paid jobs.

Using official earnings figures, Resolution finds that in some parts of the country, almost a quarter of the workforce are taking home less than this.

Nicola Smith, head of economics and social affairs development at the TUC, says structural changes, such as the decline of the manufacturing sector, have hollowed out the skilled-jobs sector that once made up a large proportion of the workforce, resulting in a polarisation between high-paying "knowledge economy" jobs, monopolised by graduates, and a "long tail" of lower-skilled workers struggling to get by.

Cuts in public sector jobs, the use of bonus pay instead of consolidated basic pay will increase this trend.

We all deserve a fair days pay for a fair days work. 

The proposals by the coalition on regional pay will only increase the divide in the way people are paid.

The on-going austerity measures are not working as the UK's economy is back in recession.

Creating jobs and ensuring a UK living wage will boost the economy and cut the deficit. Cutting  public services and jobs only damages the economy further.

There is an alternative:

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/campaigns/campaign-resources/there-is-an-alternative-the-case-against-cuts-in-public-spending.cfm

Unite MoD members to join civil servants in 10 May strike

Thousands of civilian workers in the Ministry of Defence and across the public sector are to join another national strike next month in the long-running dispute over public sector pensions where the coalition is robbing public sector workers of their pension benefits by forcing them to pay more, work longer and receive less.

The Unite union said around 25,000 of its members, including vehicle maintenance workers, technicians and drivers, will walk out on 10 May alongside civil servants and health workers.

The move follows a 94% vote rejecting the government's controversial pension reforms.

Civil servants in the Public and Commercial Services union, health workers in Unite and members of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) are also striking on 10 May in what will be the biggest day of action since last November's stoppage by more than 1.5 million public sector employees.

Why we are striking on 10 May

The government want PCS members to:

• Pay more – Extra pension contributions have been imposed for most civil servants –with further increases planned for the next two years.
• Work longer – Civil service retirement is now linked to the state pension age – that’s already rising to 68 and the government says it will get higher.
• Get less – Changes to indexation from RPI to the lower CPI inflation mean pensions fall by 15 to 20%.

And a two-year pay freeze is to be followed by 1% rises. New regional pay plans mean that everyone outside London might face further cuts.

We can’t afford not to

Civil servants and other public sector workers are uniting to defend everything we have worked for.

The government is

• Making civil servants pay up to three times as much for smaller pensions after working up to eight more years – or even longer.
• Freezing wages while prices are soaring

The strike is our chance to take a stand with colleagues from across government departments and with other trade unions across the public services.

We are demanding real negotiations with the government, not imposed cuts.

Overloading and the rise of Bullying

The continuing cuts in defence are increasing the pressure on staff as they try to produce the same outputs with fewer and fewer resources.

Civil servants working in defence are dedicated to supporting the armed forces but they are being overload to such a level in some areas that the delivery of defence capability is at risk.

A new style of motivation appears to raising it's head in the Ministry of Defence; one centered around bullying.

All employees wherever they work are entitled to work in a safe environment and any promotion of institutionalised bully whether intentional or not is unacceptable.

What is bullying?

Bullying is persistent unwelcome behaviour, mostly using unwarranted or invalid criticism, nit-picking, fault-finding, exclusion, isolation, being singled out and treated differently, shouted at, humiliated, excessive monitoring, having verbal and written warnings imposed, and much more. In the workplace, bullying usually focuses on distorted or fabricated allegations of underperformance.

Why do people bully?

The purpose of bullying is to hide inadequacy. Bullying has nothing to do with managing. Good managers manage, bad managers bully. Therefore, an individual or organisation that chooses to bully is admitting their inadequacy and the extent to which they bully is a measure of their inadequacy.

Bullying is an inefficient way of working, resulting in disenchantment, demoralisation, demotivation, disaffection, and alienation. Bullies run dysfunctional and inefficient organisations; staff turnover and sickness absence are high whilst morale and productivity are low.

Corporate bullying is where the employer abuses employees with impunity, eg:

• coercing employees to work long hours on a regular basis then making life hell for anyone who objects
• introduces "absence management" to deny employees annual or sick leave to which they are genuinely entitled
• regularly snoops and spies on employees, eg by listening in to telephone conversations, using the mystery shopper, contacting customers behind employees backs and asking leading questions, conducting covert video surveillance (perhaps by fellow employees), sending personnel officers or private investigators to an employee's home to interrogate the employees whilst on sick leave, threatening employees with interrogation the moment they return from sick leave, etc.
• deems any employee suffering from stress as weak and inadequate whilst aggressively ignoring and denying the cause (overload, lack of resources, poor management and bullying)

Serial bullying is where the source of all dysfunction can be traced to one individual, who picks on one employee after another and destroys them.

Any form of bullying is unacceptable in the workplace and the trade union movement has a zero tolerance policy to it and will challenge every instance of it.

Alternative needed as economy slides and people turn off politics

As our economy is officially in a double dip recession and interest in Westminster politics falls to the lowest for a decade, there is a desperate need for an alternative to cuts.

Official figures have today confirmed what our communities have experienced for months - that the UK has gone back into recession - proving that austerity isn't working.

Also today a survey of political engagement by independent researchers shows that only 42% say they are interested in politics - down 16% on last year and the lowest since the survey was first carried out nine years ago.

The percentage of people saying they would definitely vote if a general election was called tomorrow was down by 10%, mirroring a rise in those saying they were either unlikely or absolutely certain not to vote, according to the report published by the Hansard Society.

Since launching it at the Trades Union Congress annual conference in 2010, the union has distributed more than 250,000 copies of its pamphlet, 'There is an alternative: the case against cuts in public spending'.

A follow-up, titled 'Austerity isn't working', which will show what the government's cuts are doing to our economy and what we should do instead, will be launched at the union's annual conference next month.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "We did not need to wait for the statisticians to tell us what the cuts are doing to our economy and our communities, but this news should be a wake-up call to the millionaire chancellor and his government.

"With our economy on its knees, it is also a damning indictment of this government and our democracy that people are growing increasingly despondent with Westminster politics.

We need alternatives that will work. Instead of more cuts, we need jobs for the millions out of work, new council houses for the two million people on waiting lists, and a banking system that works for people not profit."

GMB threatens action after being “de-recognised” at South West hospital

The GMB is warning of industrial action at a South West hospital after Serco unofficially “de-recognised” the union.

The union has for nine months campaigned to stop cuts in terms and conditions at Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital, and now the private contractor is refusing to talk to them.

GMB organiser Kevin Mason said: “Since Serco cut off formal dialogue at the beginning of the month, I’ve made several attempts to re-establish dialogue, discuss our members’ concerns and resolve the issues. Unfortunately, to date, the company has not responded to our approaches.

“Serco say they intend to replace the formal negotiating committee with a staff forum, which is a clear indication they are trying to limit our input into future negotiations.

“We’re doing our best to work with Serco to get these matters resolved, however their current position means our members on the Derriford site are being denied representation at work, and this is not an acceptable position.

“If the matter is not resolved, it will lead to a formal dispute between GMB and Serco on the Plymouth hospital site.”

Government departments are asked to find £16bn more savings

Government departments are being asked to identify about £16bn more savings which could be made if needed to pay for any unforeseen events.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, says they must identify 5% of their budgets as part of measures to tighten financial management.

Another 5% from the defence budget and the MOD will implode - defence outputs will fail - and the front line will be at risk.

This government has got its cuts agenda wrong. It is undermining economic growth, creating unemployment and removing pubic services many vulnerable people rely on.

We have said over and over again "Defence Cuts Cost" - jobs, capability, delivery, sustainability, flexibility and LIVES.

Is anyone listening.

National executive agrees plans for ongoing action

The union's national executive this afternoon unanimously agreed a programme of ongoing action, starting with national strikes over pensions co-ordinated with other unions on 10 May and at the end of June.

 

The action across the civil service, health and education, will include joint national strikes; national, regional and local protests; lobbying of ministers, MPs and other politicians; and co-ordinated, targeted industrial action in employer groups and sectors. Some PCS members employed in the private sector are also planning to strike on 10 May.

The plans are designed to help build the maximum possible level of co-ordination between unions in the weeks and months ahead, to press the government for more meaningful negotiations.

Following our ballot result – in which 90.5% voted to reject the government's pensions offer and 72.1% voted for a programme of further action – we wrote to Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude requesting genuine negotiations but, as yet, have not received a reply.

Since March we have successfully worked to build a coalition of unions ready to take the action needed to put real pressure on the government.

Unite has already announced that its members in health will hold national strike action on 10 May and a ballot of Unite members in the civil service closes tomorrow, with an expectation they will also join the action.

In education, UCU has previously agreed to take co-ordinated national strike action and its executive meets next week. Following its annual conference, the NUT executive is also due to meet next week to take final decisions on rolling regional and national strikes, including proposed national action in June.

The main Northern Ireland public sector union Nipsa has confirmed plans to take action on that date and RMT members in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary will also be on strike.

All out on 10 May

The action will come a day after the Queen's Speech, which is expected to include a parliamentary bill forcing through changes to public sector pensions that will mean civil and public servants paying much more every month and working up to eight years longer for a lower pension in retirement.

Campaign plans for members in employer groups are being drawn up alongside proposals for national action, with groups encouraged to consider how their own issues are taken forward.

On 10 May, we will be organising strike day activities in each region with other unions – including, marches and rallies – and we will look to include other campaign groups such as the National Pensioners Association, UK Uncut, Disabled People Against the Cuts, BARAC and local anti-cuts alliances.

The Police Federation is also planning a national march through central London on 10 May to protest about cuts to pay, pensions and jobs.

More information about these plans will be posted to our website by early next week.

Since the last NEC, lobbying events have been organised, starting with a protest in deputy prime minister Nick Clegg's constituency in Sheffield at the weekend,. Others are planned in the constituencies of key cabinet members, including David Cameron, George Osborne, Francis Maude, Michael Gove and Danny Alexander.

Video: PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka explains the decision

Find out what you could lose with our pensions calculator

Together we are stronger. Join our union

Maude and Cabinet boost their own pensions

In an effort to make it look as though we are all in this together, Cabinet Ministers are due to pay an extra 2.4% towards their final salary pension scheme that would equate to £229 more per year. That would be the type of final salary scheme the ConDems say is unaffordable for us.

However, according to the Daily Mail today, an MP has discovered that due to the complex nature of the scheme, those extra payments would result in each Cabinet Minister, including Francis Maude (below), receiving £339 per year more in retirement.

Francis Maude, Cabinet Minister

Loyal, hard working and low paid civil servants have to pay more, work longer and get less. 

Ministers like Francis Maude pay more, work the same amount of time and get more.

All in this together, we don't think so! 

Talk about looking after your own. It is an absolute disgrace.