Dogma and Cuts: the headline from the ConDem government

Government departments have been told to prepare for further massive cuts to their budgets, it has emerged.

Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander has written to departments setting out "planning assumptions" ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review, which is due before the end of June.

To meet the £11.5 billion savings target most departments have been warned to expect a 10% funding reduction.

The Ministry of Defence, which Philip Hammond warned earlier this year would struggle to take any more cuts, is likely to get a 1% increase in its equipment budget and a 5%reduction on the rest.

The ConDem government is destroying the infrastructure of this country with ill thought cuts that continue to undermine growth in the economy.

The cuts in the Ministry of Defence are putting our armed forces lives at risk.

When they say Cut Back, We say Fight Back.

5 April Walkout - Let's make it a fun, memorable and successful afternoon

On 5 April at 1.00pm, right across the UK, tens of thousands of members in the civil service and related bodies will walk out of their workplaces in our dispute over pay, pensions and terms and conditions.

All members covered by the national strike ballot in the defence sector will therefore be expected to take a half day strike on 5 April starting at 1pm sharp for 3hours, 42 minutes.

We want to make this walkout as memorable as possible, as the sight of a group of workers collectively leaving their workstations and walking out together is not only a powerful image, but also fosters a collectiveness and solidarity among union members which sets an example to any non-union staff in that workplace.

We have therefore put together this brief guide to organising a walkout and getting the most out of the day, taking members with us and persuading non-members to join us.

Getting ready – the days leading up to the walkout

• Branch or site committees should be meeting urgently to plan out a course of action. Discuss how we can use local flexi agreements and local working patterns e.g. four and a half day working weeks to our advantage and how all members of the branch can take part in the action. See Annex A below for some suggestions
• Give everybody a specific job. Assign a workplace rep to a specific area or group of members. It will be the responsibility of these activists to make sure members in their areas come out on strike at 1.00pm on the day.
• Agree who is going to be outside the building greeting members who walk out of work and acting as a picket line for members who want to go in to work. Get whistles, vuvuzelas and PCS flags from the regional office!
• Focus on any areas that do not have a rep and attempt to identify a member that is prepared to act as a walk out leader on the day.
• Decide where you are going to ask members to assemble on the day and make preparation for a speaker to say a few words about the dispute and to thank members for their support.
• Do the simple things. You need to make sure that every member knows what’s happening on 5 April. Talk to members. Make it a priority to get a leaflet in every member’s hand and a PCS application form in every non-member’s hand. Please ensure that those leafleting do so in their own time e.g. before work in the morning.
• Use your own branch newsletters to publicise support for the action. Advertise what your branch is doing, why you’re doing it and what’s happening on the day.
• Think about organising a social event for the Friday afternoon; this could be a fun event such as a branch quiz. Liase with other local PCS branches and your regional office to see if they wish to hold a joint event.
• Get leaflets and newsletters out to members. Set up a leafleting rota to cover all staff entrances. Use leafleting as an opportunity to talk to members and non-members.
• Try to get newer activists involved in this process and make sure you have application forms to hand out as this is an ideal opportunity to recruit. New members are able to strike as soon as they have signed the application form or joined online.
• Talk to members. Plan a members’ meeting to take place in members’ own time and off-site. It might be possible to get a speaker from the PCS NEC or a GEC member to this. Contact your Group or Head Office who will be able to assist with this and any leaflets you need to promote the meeting.
• Use your BEC meeting to establish a ‘phone tree’, using information you have collated from your Count Me In exercises/ Commix. Each BEC member agrees to call a certain number of members from your list.
• Contact your Group or Regional Office if you feel you need extra help with leafleting, resources or other support.
• Remind members that the group has a hardship fund, to support those who will suffer hardship through taking part in strike action. Contact John Wilson (jhnwilson6@yahoo.co.uk) for further information.
• Some managers will insist on asking members in advance of the strike date whether PCS members will be taking strike action or not. Members are not under any obligation to tell managers what their intentions are on strike day and should be reminded of this. Please ensure members report all instances of bullying or harassment in regards to reporting to reps and then onwards to Bob Rollings at bob@pcs.org.uk. We will take each instance up with the department.

Taking action on the day

• Your most important task is to leaflet the workplaces in your branch on the morning of the walk out. Talk to members. Remind members what’s happening and why we are asking members to walk out.
• Where possible your reps and activists need to be in place by 12.45pm in their offices and work areas getting ready for walking out at 1.00pm.
• At precisely 1.00pm your reps and activists need to remind members that it is 1.00pm and encourage members to leave their workstations.
• At walkouts in the DfE group recently reps used klaxon horns and whistles to announce when the walkout was going to take place. These will be available from PCS regional offices. At exactly 1.00pm, sound the klaxons and blow the whistles as a reminder to members to leave the workplace.
• Members in the DfT have recently staged 2 and 4 hour walkouts. In the DfT members who had previously been nervous about taking strike action were happier to walk out en masse with their colleagues than they would have been about just not going into work. The walkouts in some areas also caused more disruption than simply a 2 or 4 hour strike as management closed the offices 2 hours before the walkout was due to happen and did not open the offices after the walkout had finished!
• Make it a fun afternoon! Some workplaces turn their walkouts into mini rallies, inviting musicians, activists from other trade unions and community groups to attend and perform outside and speak.
• Arrange a reception committee of activists to applaud members as they walk out of work and to act as a picket line to remind members not to go in to work after 1pm.
• Some workplaces with low density and activity get together with other workplaces in the area for support. Get together with other branches in your group or town.
• Find out whether a local rally is planned in your town and arrange for your members to travel to the meeting together. If not, think about organising a social event for members to attend after they walk out, like a quiz or group meal.
• Whatever you do, make it fun, memorable and colourful and advertise in advance what you are asking members to do. We are seeking to make a splash walking out, not sneak out without anyone knowing we have gone!

Shift workers

For the majority of members the strike action is simple. At 1.00pm on 5 April take strike action for 3 hrs 42 min until 4.42pm i.e. half a day strike. For a small group of PCS members who are on shift work it will be different. If you are on shift which finishes on 5 April then strike action should be taken for the last 3hr 42 minutes of your shift. If your shift crosses into 6 April you are NOT being called on at this time to take strike action. Detailed advice relating to questions about shift patterns, part time workers and strike pay deductions is available at www.pcs.org.uk/actionnow.

Part time workers, compressed hours and flexi-time

It is likely that a number of members will already be absent on the afternoon of 5 April, because they work flexibly. This is a rolling programme of industrial action. We intend that members across the union will take the same amount of industrial action over the whole programme. In this instance the strike notice is only for 5 April. See Annex A below for examples of how those not scheduled to be at work on the afternoon of 5 April can support the action.

Conclusion

Remember to send us your strike day report so that PCS nationally can use the information and stories from strike day to publicise our demands and counter government propaganda. Send strike day reports, pictures and stories giving your workplace/branch name/code:

• by text on 07624 806 232
• by email to 5April@pcs.org.uk
• on facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/PCSmain
• by tweeting us on @pcs_union.

Delivering a successful walkout on 5 April will take some effort from activists across the group, particularly given the short time available. Advice and support is available from the group office, from PCS regional offices and from the group executive committee, so please ask if you need assistance.

It is vital that we send a message to our employer and to the government that we are not going to go away. They won’t talk and they aren’t listening, so we must continue to act and apply increasing pressure so that they come back to the negotiating table.
 

WALK OUT ON 5 APRIL AT 1300 – MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD

Privatising Search and Rescue: Profit, Cost Cutting, Political Dogma and savings lives are diametrically opposed

As we have seen in the Health Service, cutting front line nursing staff directly impacts on patient care and well-being.

Out-souring Search and Rescue (SAR) has the potential to cost lives because of political dogma.

We believe that SAR should continue to be run by the military. We cannot see how a contracted crew will have the dedication to saving lives that our military colleagues do. Whatever will be privatised next, the ambulance service, the fire service! Lives are going to be put at risk because the ConDem government are wedded to a slash and burn policy of all public sector functions.

There has been an e-petition running on stopping this ludicrous idea for a while, so please, if you feel same as we do, sign it.

Bristow Helicopters says:

“Bristow Helicopters Ltd knows the responsibilities that go with providing this service and we are committed to working in full partnership with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and ensuring a smooth transition process and the long-term continued delivery of a world class SAR operation in the UK.”

What is not mentioned though is that in 2010 following the Bristow Helicopter accident of 2006 where a Super Puma carried out an emergency landing in the North Sea, the company was urged to improve pilot training after the Dutch Safety Board said “shortcomings” were found in the company’s provision of simulator training.

http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/Article.aspx/1621387?UserKey=

Four years before this accident, a Sikorsky S-76A helicopter operated by Bristow crashed in the North Sea, leaving 11 people dead. Mechanical failure was blamed.

Between 2010 and 2012, the Bristow training academy in Florida USA had five accidents.

There are other examples we could give, but you are getting picture.

So, who would you prefer to be running this countries Search and Rescue, our military personnel who have a proven track record or a company who's aim in simply to make money.

5 April action briefing 1 – Is everybody paying the same tax?

Our union is asking all members to stop working at 1.00pm on 5 April and take strike action for the rest of that afternoon. This is part of the ongoing national campaign and our defence sector Fair Deal campaign to safeguard our pay, pensions, jobs, terms and conditions.

5 April marks the end of the 2012/13 tax year – and the walkout is the culmination of a week of tax justice campaigning highlighting the £120 billion tax gap. From 1 April, PCS members will have extra pension contributions imposed on them, while from the same date millionaires are being given a tax cut by the Cabinet of millionaires.

Let’s look at the numbers

Our union has done a bit of further research and we have started by making the assumption that we live in a world where a talented, expensive accountant cannot create a dozen shell companies in exotic places to hide income. We have even made the assumption that the top earners in the UK declare every penny they make and pay full tax on it.

We have used the 2009-2010 confirmed HMRC figures to avoid charges of manipulation or error. The total number of taxpayers in the UK is just shy of 30 million. The top 1 per cent is, therefore, 300,000 people. Total income declared across the UK was £870bn. Of that, £121bn was made by the top 1 per cent. The total income tax received was £145bn, of which £40.5bn was contributed by this top-earning 300,000 people. This yields an effective average personal tax rate of 33.5 per cent. This leaves the top 1 per cent with an average annual personal income, after tax, of £268,000.

Let’s look at a smaller slice, still – the six thousand people in the UK who have a personal income of a million or more. After all personal tax deductions, they are left with over £600,000 a year. It would take an E1 on the max in the Ministry of Defence approximately 25 years to make what the lowliest of these six thousand people make in a year.

Why do we pay tax?

This should be a simple enough question but at last autumn’s Tory party conference, prime minister, David Cameron said that by choosing to tax this top slice less he was not gifting them a tax-break, because “when people earn money, it’s their money”.

The implication being that this money was not made using the work of low-paid people forced to claim benefits to supplement their income; not made using the roads, airports and ports we all pay for; not made by all of us buying their goods and service; not made under the protection of the same police, fire and health services we all paid for.

In the MoD, every PCS member is also a taxpayer, yet we see our department being torn apart from a lack of investment across the board, whether that be in personnel, pay, our pension provision, the buildings we work in or probably most importantly the support we give to the front line.

Shirker v Striver

Across the UK now there is a very deliberate, orchestrated right wing campaign that sees those with mortgaes pitched agaisnt those in social housing; public sector worker pitted against those in the private sector and the new favourite despicable catchphrase of the right wing - skiver v striver.

In the MoD, if we are not successul in our campaigning, we will see relative assessment come into our department and each year the bottom 5% will be deemed ‘skivers’ and be thrown out the door.

In the wider community, the bedroom tax, the personal independence payment and many more such schemes still to come are all part of the ideology that brands anyone in the unfortunate position of needing welfare help and support as ‘benefit scroungers’

Conclusion

Our union has been at the forefront of the tax justice campaign and whilst we welcome any support to close the £120 billion annual tax gap, it must be done via action and not rhetoric.

During our action on budget day, chancellor George Osborne announced a £4.6bn government crackdown on tax avoidance and evasion. Whilst our union welcomes any action to support our tax justice campaign, looking for 3.8% of the money owed shows the government are only paying tax avoidance and evasion lip service.

If any PCS member in the Ministry of Defence only hits 3.8% of their targets in the next year, they will very quickly be deemed one of the ‘skivers’ and face being sacked by the department. As always, another example of how we are not ‘all in this together’.

20 March Strike - A fantastic start, but now it's time to step up the pressure

On behalf of the group executive, I would like to thank every single member who took part in Wednesday's industrial action. Reports from across the defence sector said that the strike was well supported, with picket lines again at most MoD locations. Particular thanks go to those hardy souls who braved some pretty awful weather to stand on those picket lines and get our message across to those who tried to turn up for work.

Our thoughts are now turning to the next day of action, on Friday 5 April, when members will be asked to walk out at 1.00pm. We know that branches already have some innovative ideas to make that a visible, noisy and colourful show of defiance and solidarity.

But Budget Day unfortunately also showed us again why we cannot let up our pressure to force the government back to the negotiating table, as they still aren’t listening.

Public sector pay freeze extended again

Despite all the evidence that austerity, and in particular pay freezes, were having a disastrous effect on our economy, George Osborne announced that the pay freeze would be extended for a fifth year, with average pay settlements again capped at 1% for 2015/16. He also announced further attacks on progression pay for those public sector bodies still paying progression. (Military staff however will continue to receive progression payments).

Negotiations are about to start in our department for pay 2013/14, when the MoD enters the first year of the 1% pay cap. Our pay claim, for 5% or an underpinning £1,200 increase, has already been circulated to members.

Further pensions changes

Osborne also announced that the introduction of a single state pension was being brought forward to 2016. This will mean that those in public sector pension schemes will pay 1.4% extra in National Insurance contributions. For the average civil servant, this will mean more than £300 in additional National Insurance payments every year.

In addition, the next round of additional pension contributions will kick in from next month:

Salary range (Full-time equivalent)    Classic members       Premium, Classic plus and Nuvos members
Under £15,000                                 1.5%                       3.5%
£15,001 - £21,000                          2.7%                       4.7%
£21,001 - £30,000                          3.88%                     5.88%
£30,001 - £50,000                          4.67%                     6.67%
£50,001 - £60,000                          5.46%                     7.46%
Over £60,000                                  6.25%                     8.25%

These increases, averaging 1.28%, amount to a further pay cut for hard working members and will be followed by further increases in 2014/15, when a new pension scheme will be imposed on all staff.

We demand a Fair Deal

Government proposals are in danger of creating a three-tier workforce in the defence sector. Our reports from picket lines show that those who did turn up for work on 20 March were the thousands of consultants and contractors, employed at enormous expense to do our jobs, and our military colleagues who are increasingly taking over the jobs of civilians (despite the department’s lip service towards civilianisation).

Contractors and consultants get paid handsomely, seemingly without reference to outputs or performance. They are clearly at the top of the MoD money tree.

Our military colleagues have had their progression payments protected throughout the pay freeze and are also not expected to pay additional pension contributions.

Then at the bottom of the tree come the increasingly poor civil servants. Our pay is in permafreeze and being eroded by inflation; our pensions are raided and are costing us more each year and now our terms and conditions are under attack like never before.

It’s not good enough; and it’s time to fight back. We want a Fair Deal in Defence and as they won’t listen, we must act.

WALK OUT ON 5 APRIL AT 1300 – MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD

Cost to your pension of a strike

Sometimes PCS members approaching retirement worry about the effect upon their pensions of taking strike action, especially in their final year, pointing out that the pension is based on the best of the last 3 years of service. As your pension has to last you for the rest of your life, this concern is quite understandable. However, PCS in the NW has looked into the matter and can confirm that this is a needless worry.

Firstly, the effect of a strike on your pension is identical whether that strike took place 35 years ago or last week. This is because your pension is calculated on your gross salary, which does not reduce because you have been on strike.

The other part of the pension calculation is the total number of days you will have worked for the department when you leave. Common sense tells us that one day is a minuscule percentage of the total.

To get a good idea of the effect of a one-day strike on your pension, simply divide your gross salary by 292. This will give the yearly loss in pence (before tax).

For example, an EO earning £23510, divided by 292 = 80.5p a year, or 1.5p per week, before tax.

The effect on part-time or part year workers is not quite so easy to calculate, but even if you use the full-time equivalent of your salary, you will see the figure is negligible.

For convenience, here is a ready reckoner:

Gross salary	Loss in pence per year (before tax)
£10,000	34.2p
£11,000	37.7p
£12,000	41.1p
£13,000	44.5p
£14,000	47.9p
£15,000	51.3p
£16,000	54.8p
£17,000	58.2p
£18,000	61.6p
£19,000	65.1p
£20,000	68.5p
£21,000	71.9p
£22,000	75.3p
£23,000	78.8p
£24,000	82.2p
£25,000	85.6p

Conclusion

PCS members who are heading towards the end of their career need not worry about the effects of a strike on their pensions, as the loss will be a couple of pence per month.

Members close to retirement may be worried about the impact on their lump sum. We believe the financial impact would also be minimal. If the employer threatens to withhold this payment (where they have made the offer in writing) PCS will support members who wish to challenge this. It may very well be an idle threat given the deductions from pay of over 80,000 members of staff to process!

We hope this puts your mind at rest, and confirms that you can easily afford to support the PCS campaign for jobs, services and pensions, no matter how close you are to leaving. Don’t forget that you will still have a vested interest in the outcome ~ at some point after you retire you’ll need the services that PCS members provide.

20 March Strike - No blanket exemptions in the Ministry of Defence

In the days leading up to tomorrow’s (20 March) industrial action, the department wrote to our union asking for exemptions to the industrial action in certain areas of the Ministry of Defence. Whilst our union has this list, we will not be publishing it, as we firmly believe every single PCS member in the Ministry of Defence is of value to the department.

 

It is extremely significant that by sending us the list and asking for exemptions, the department is admitting that certain functions and certain personnel within the MoD are absolutely vital. There are undoubtedly some jobs that support the front line more directly than others, but whether you are a guard at Faslane, a DBS case advisor in Cheadle Hulme or the permanent under secretary in Main Building, London, every civilian worker in our department contributes to the support to the front line.

 

However, every single civilian worker in our department has been affected by pay restraint; everybody has suffered increases in their pension contributions (with another increase due in a fortnight) and all PCS defence sector group members now have their terms and conditions under threat.

 

The Ministry of Defence have not given any exemptions to any MoD civil servant on pay, pensions, terms and conditions and the Con Dem government are refusing to talk to our union nationally about their proposed detrimental changes to our terms and conditions.

 

Therefore, our union will be granting no blanket exemptions for tomorrows strike action. Loyal, hardworking MoD employees are having their loyalty and dedication firmly thrown back in their faces by an uncaring, yet deceitful employer.

 

Unwarranted management spin

 

We have become aware that some management areas within the department are attempting to spin the PCS position on exemptions, to say that whole sites or activities are exempt. The group executive committee (GEC) have had the same position for numerous years now and this remains intact for tomorrow’s strike action.

 

If the department can show that they have work that is absolutely operationally urgent and the member who would normally do the work is on strike, then they can call that person to come in to undertake that urgent operational task. Our union has said that the choice is then that of the member. In addition we have exempted one team member in defined operational support areas where 24-hour cover is essential.

 

We will be reviewing these arrangements after the current action and will be checking carefully that any exemptions have not been exploited.

 

Every normal working day, we all work beside military colleagues and form friendship and allegiances with them. Our union recognises the MoD is a very special department and the last thing we would want to do is to put any of our military colleagues at risk.

 

Conclusion

 

This GEC policy is not a policy of exemption; it is a policy of compassion.

 

We have made some progress with our Fair Deal campaign and we want to work further with senior MoD management on this and we will look for the government to support this.

 

Unfortunately, this government does not match the compassion shown by our union. We want a Fair Deal in Defence and a fair deal for all public sector workers and as they wont listen, we must act.

 

ALL OUT ON 20 MARCH – NO BLANKET EXEMPTIONS

 

Bob Rollings

Defence Sector group secretar

DSG 20 March action briefing 4 – They won’t talk, so we must act

At the recent round of PCS annual general meetings in the defence sector, GEC speakers asked a specific question to the members who attended – ‘Do you want an Unfair Deal in Defence’? Unsurprisingly, not a single member said they wanted an unfair deal.

 

The government are now threatening our terms and conditions so in a similar vein, which of the following of your terms and conditions could you afford to lose - 

 

• Paid sick leave

 

• Flexible working hours

 

• Paid annual leave

 

• Mobility protection

 

If the answer is none of the above, it is time to take action to defend our terms and conditions.

 

Why we still need a Fair Deal in Defence

 

For many months now, our union has been involved in negotiations to achieve a settlement around the objectives of our Fair Deal in Defence campaign. Members will have seen the briefing on 11 March that we had suspended our Defence Sector group specific industrial action timetable to allow further talks.

 

Unfortunately on 14 March, PUS, John Thompson made a MoD wide announcement about the changes the department proposes to make in relation to our terms and conditions.

 

Whilst this announcement was not entirely unexpected in the lead up to national strike action on 20 March, the content of the announcement is both unwelcome and somewhat  different to the informal engagement on the Cabinet Office proposals that had been taking place over several months. The proposals relating to a 26-week ban on flexi for new starters and the changes to sick leave entitlements building up over 5 years have not been previously discussed.

 

Please read carefully

 

Our union would encourage every member to read PUS’s announcement very carefully. Although the proposed changes are at present both limited and for new starters only, the department are strongly minded to introduce all the proposed Cabinet Office changes for both new starters and staff on promotion. This again is a new proposal and is strange given the department’s own analysis suggests that it would be both more expensive and counterproductive to do so.

 

If this happens, it will be a direct attack on career progression within the Ministry of Defence. Will you still apply for promotion if you are expected to work longer hours, get less leave and have a worse sickness absence provision? The answer is likely to be no; which will once more leave the department with massive skills shortages and huge succession planning issues.

 

Please note that formal consultation with our union by the Ministry of Defence has not yet started on any of these proposals.

 

However we expect this consultation shortly and we expect to see further attacks to follow, as the MoD fully embraces the civil service reform agenda. Our union will be opposing these changes; but our opposition would be strengthened by an overwhelming response to the action on 20 March. 

 

Industrial Action called

 

As you will be aware our union is starting a programme of industrial action in order to force the government to back off from further attacks to our pay, pensions, jobs and terms and conditions. The action will start with a day of strikes across the civil service to coincide with the Budget Day on 20 March.

 

Members are rightly angry at this aggressive move by the government and unwillingness from Ministers to even talk over slashing of our terms. Hard won terms that if lost will see a major detriment to our living standards, our jobs, working conditions and pensions. Furthermore those who join the civil service in the future, or expect to get promoted during their career, will have radically reduced terms and expectations. Surely this is not what we want to hand over to the next generation?

 

Follow the democratic decision

 

We need to show the Ministry of Defence that we will not stand for this and they need to work with our union in order to defend the conditions of members. 

 

Defence Sector group members have now voted to take strike action and action short of strike in both the national ballot and the Fair Deal ballot in order to force our employer to negotiate a fair settlement. This is the democratic decision by members and all members should now abide by this decision and get behind the action.

 

Conclusion

 

Announcing the action, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said, “This is not a one-day protest, this is the start of a rolling programme of walkouts and disruptive action to put pressure on a government that is refusing to talk to us."

 

Whilst we are getting some movement on our Fair Deal campaign with senior MoD management, nationally our union has asked for talks on pay, pensions, jobs and terms and conditions, but ministers are imposing cuts and refusing to negotiate.

 

Last Wednesday (13 March), Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister behind the destructive plan for civil service reform couldn’t face PCS activists leafleting in central London and sneaked out the back of his blacked out Jaguar into a back entrance in Whitehall.

 

Wednesday 20 March, Budget Day 2013, is our chance to send a message to the government and employers that we don’t accept the cuts and we want real negotiations and agreements to protect our rights.

 

ALL OUT ON 20 MARCH - SUPPORT THE ACTION

 

Bob Rollings

Defence Sector group secretary

DSG 20 March action briefing 3 - The best available terms and conditions

Members will by now be aware of the threats to all of our terms and conditions and the decision taken by our union to take action on 20 March to defend these hard earned terms and conditions.

Rather than negotiating with our union and trying to defuse the situation, last week the head of the civil service Sir Bob Kerslake, and minister for the cabinet office, Francis Maude, sent out an inflammatory letter stating, “When we talk to civil servants, terms and conditions are often raised. The Civil Service will continue to offer employment terms that are among the best available.”

Defence Sector members may also have seen the interview with the aforementioned Sir Bob Kerslake in the recent Defence Focus magazine where he said, “ By any measure I think we can be seen as a good employer.

Is the MoD a good employer?

Our union decided to investigate further to see how good employers from the private sector treat their employees. Every year since 2001, the Sunday Times have been publishing the 'Best Companies to Work For' list. This year 896 businesses registered to take part.

Below are two companies from the top 25 big companies list with comparable workforces to the Ministry of Defence -

Iceland (frozen food retailer) – No 2 on the list with 23,763 employees 

Comments on company website

Iceland is second to none when it comes to staff Wellbeing; work relationships expressed in our survey factors My Team and My Manager, good Leadership and a Fair Deal. People don’t just like working for Iceland. They love it.

(79%).93% of our retail employees told us that they are proud to work for Iceland, 90% feel a strong sense of belonging in the company, 93% enjoy the work they do, 95% consider that their manager treats them fairly and with respect, and 94% would recommend Iceland as a good place to work.

On our management more generally, 73% feel that senior management listen to them and 81% are confident in their leadership skills, which were both the top scores in the UK. Staff also agree that Iceland is run on strong values (80%) and that senior managers truly live those values.

In October 2011 our 22,000 front line staff shared in an industry-beating and inflation-busting £14.6 million pay award, which delivered store staff an average pay increase of 6.3% and a maximum possible increase of 45.5%, while home delivery drivers received an average increase of 13.1% and a maximum possible increase of 22.1%.

In addition to a friendly work environment and high levels of job satisfaction our overall Fair Deal ranking of 80%, up 14 points on 2011, was simply the best in the UK.

The 500-strong team at head office in Deeside benefits from one of the best staff restaurants anywhere: the Roxy, The prices are truly exceptional, with lunch costing between £1.95 and £2.50 for a main course, including a wide choice of vegetables or salads to accompany it. Fresh fruit is provided free at the The Roxy and staff who over-indulge can work off their excesses through free membership of a local gym.

PWC (Professional services) – No 11 on the list with 15,980 employees 

Comments on company website

One of the strengths of our firm is the breadth of what we do and the flexibility and variety we are able to offer our people.

Attracting the best talent calls for more than just a good financial package and stimulating work. From flexible hours and career breaks to job sharing and homeworking, we're committed to providing a truly healthy work life balance. To facilitate this choice and maximise flexibility we offer 'PwC Lifestyle' - a web-based source of self-help ideas, information and tools to help employees make lifestyle decisions, cope with different life events and generally make the best use of their time both at work and outside. 'Lifestyle' covers such areas as:

• Caring and parenting
• Work-life integration
• Your health and fitness (including playing sports)
• Your finances
• Managing time and stress

We go out of our way to give them the respect and recognition they deserve - which means offering stimulating work, investing in continuous professional development, ongoing coaching and constructive feedback, and by maintaining fair, transparent promotion processes.

PwC's diversity strategy recognises people's differences in terms of gender and ethnicity, social and educational background and individual personalities. We are committed to ensuring all our existing and potential staff, clients and suppliers are treated with respect irrespective of their background, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, race (including colour, nationality and ethnic origin), religion, beliefs or disability.

MoD Your Say survey results

In comparison to the above the recent MoD Your Say survey details –

• 9% believe that when changes are made in the MoD, they are usually made for the better.
• 16% have confidence in the decisions made by the MoD’s senior managers.
• 29% would recommend the MoD as a great place to work.
• Only 18% believe senior managers will take action on the results of this survey.
• 8,263 people said they had experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination in the workplace in the last 12 months.

The Sunday Times introduction to this article says, “Enlightened and forward-looking business leaders are investing in the wellbeing and motivation of their most valuable assets: their employees. And in a tough economic climate this makes sense: support them and they will support you.”

Our union is in full agreement with this statement; unfortunately this government and the MoD appear to believe the best way to value their own employees is with pay freezes, increased pension contributions; a denigration of their terms and conditions and a culture of intimidation.

Conclusion

We are often told that as public sector workers we should adopt the best practices of the private sector. In some cases we should – the examples above show that the private sector values and treat their employees fairly as it adds and support their business; the civil service on the other hand does not

On 20 March, take strike action and demand that the governments own employees are treated with dignity and respect. We deserve fair pay; we are entitled to decent pensions and we are worth top quality terms and conditions.

DEFEND YOUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS - ALL OUT ON 20 MARCH

Keeping up to date for March 20th 2013

A great big thank you for all your hard work in encouraging colleagues to take part in action on Budget Day.

Strike day reporting
PCS as a union has developed a sophisticated reporting process to ensure we are best placed to report accurately what has happened on our picket lines.
It is very important that we continue with this strategy so that we can demonstrate the effect of the strike on 20 March in the media and assess the level of support for the strike following 20 March.

Read the briefing which gives more details.

You can get in touch by text to 07624 806 232, emailing to 20march@pcs.org.uk, updating our Facebook group or by tweeting us on @pcs_union. Use hash tag #pcsM20

 

Write to your MP

Ask your MP to support our campaign by standing up for meaningful negotiations on pay, terms and conditions: http://bit.ly/nc2013_mp

Action Now
For regular updates in the run-up to the strike and a live blog on 20 March see pcs.org.uk/actionnow
They won't talk, so we must act.

DSG 20 March action briefing 2 - MoD: The department that keeps on giving

Our union is taking action on 20 March as part of our national campaign to safeguard our jobs, pay, pensions and terms and conditions. In the Ministry of Defence our Fair Deal campaign is running concurrently with the national campaign.

In the period since the last general election, MoD civil servants have had a below inflation rise or no pay rise; two increments of pension contribution increases and now face threats to our terms and conditions such as leave and sick pay.

Elsewhere in the defence budget

One positive to come from this government is their transparency agenda. Members can now view themselves (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mod-finance-transparency-dataset) where, what and how much the government is spending of the defence budget externally.

Our union believes that before a single job is cut; before we accept continuing pay restraint; before any more of our pension is eroded and before any changes to our terms and conditions are implemented, the MoD must look at the spiralling costs of external defence spending.

24.5% increase in a year

The governments own figures do not lie. The MoD keeps on giving more and more money and more and more work to the private sector –

• Financial year 10-11 (Apr - Mar) - £5,015,349,851.55
• Financial year 11-12 (Apr - Mar) - £6,241,892,046.76

An independent audit of a contract in the MoD's procurement organisation - Defence Equipment and Support, based at Abbey Wood near Bristol - found a lack of scrutiny and competition and no attempt to use existing defence staff to undertake the work.

The audit into the 'framework agreement for technical support' in the DE&S's, which provides equipment and support to the frontline, found:

• "Project teams failed to submit business cases for mandated independent scrutiny and approval in over half of the cases reviewed."
• "A significant proportion of tasks were placed single source (75%) despite the default position being competition."
• "The required investigation into the use of internal resources for completion of the task was not fully completed in any of the tasks reviewed."
• "There was no mechanism to identify where the same skills were being consistently bought in to enable and inform reviews of in-house capacity/capability."

Political dogma from the Cabinet Office

In 2012, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude claimed the government was doing all it could to "address waste and increase scrutiny on government expenditure", adding: "We need to be able to show taxpayers that every penny we spend is being used efficiently and we must open up our books so people can see for themselves where their money is going."

Francis Maude is the same minister who has now ordered the attacks on our terms and conditions. Rather than attack low paid civil servants, why does Francis Maude not investigate the profligate external defence spending? The only answer can be that it is easier to blame public sector workers than go after multinational tax dodging corporations.

Last week, Rolls Royce, a major UK defence contractor, reported via their own annual report that they did not pay any corporation tax in the UK in 2012 despite making a £1.4 billion pre-tax profit.

Conclusion

Our union is sickened that since the SDSR announcement in October 2010 that announced the culling of 54,000 jobs, we have seen no evidence of how outputs are to be stopped or projects cancelled. Tens of thousands of staff have already gone and we now have huge skills shortages across the department.

On top of that we have had pay restraint, pension contribution increases and now an attack on our terms and conditions that have been fought for and built up through the years.

On 20 March, it is time to take action and to tell the government to examine their friends in the City; the casino bankers and the defence profiteers and that this government must listen to ordinary workers in Britain.

We know that members are finding it increasingly hard to make ends meet and that to lose money through strike action will be a difficult decision. However if we don’t make a stand, the Government will continue to walk all over us and we will lose even more as a consequence.

ALL OUT ON 20 MARCH – SAVE OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS