5 April action briefing 3 - Think 5% on 5 April

Since the SDSR started in the autumn of 2010, more than 24,000 civilians have left the Ministry of Defence. Our union has been successful in limiting the number of compulsory redundancies to under a hundred from those who have left. However this week has saw the start of the new performance management procedures that if not defeated will see 5% of staff every year declared as 'failing'.

These 5% will not be made an offer of VERS, they will not even be made compulsorily redundant – they will be sacked.

Our Fair Deal campaign has struck a chord with those remaining within the department as members see no drop in outputs or tasking, but simply see work being added to their already burgeoning list of objectives.

We have raised these issues time and again with the MoD, but they claim there hands are tied and they have no option but to implement this and the other policies that place a further burden on an already overworked and stressed workforce.

Fast-track for sackings

Under the proposals at the end of the year, members are ranked into quotas based on relative assessment to fit in with “indicative distribution ranges” – which the so-called moderation process is designed for:

• Exceeded – Up to 25% of members who will receive a bonus
• Met – 70% of members
• Improvement Required – Up to 10% of members with bottom 5% facing the sack.

These ranges are totally arbitrary, do not accurately reflect performance, are potentially discriminatory, and are likely to lead to more members facing dismissal because of poor performance.

Our union is clear that this system is designed to perpetuate the myth that under-performance is endemic in the Ministry of Defence, and is a fast-track way of sacking members.

Previous attempts to introduce moderation in areas such as the Home Office and DWP failed because of a sustained programme of action from members forcing departments to acknowledge the system is unworkable. These fresh proposals are even worse. Our union wants a system, which supports the career development and aspirations of our members whilst dealing effectively but fairly with those whose performance needs improvement.

Conclusion

On the morning of 5 April, look around your workplace. Will you be the 1 in 20 who won’t be here this time next year? Will it be the guy working next to you? The lady you have a coffee with? Your pal who you have a pint with? The friend you see on the bus every morning? And don’t forget this 5% target is not just for 2013-14, it is for an indefinite number of years after that so will you be the 1 in 19 the following year or the 1 in 18 the year after that as the workforce progressively gets smaller?

As you would expect, these changes have not been agreed with our union and have once again been implemented against our will. They form part of an ideological drive across government to chip away at our terms and conditions, further restrain pay levels and help the employer to discipline and sack workers.

If imposed, they will lead to a climate of fear across the department, where staff will be afraid to refuse to work longer hours, take on extra staff or work out of grade for fear of becoming one of the 5%.

Performance Management in the Ministry of Defence is no different to the bedroom tax and the removal of the Disability Living Allowance. It is all part of a very deliberate preordained plan to dismantle the rights of working people and deliver instead a cowed and compliant workforce.

On 5 April, our union asks every PCS member in the Defence Sector group to stand together and walk out at 1.00pm. It is time to say we will no longer accept a race to the bottom or work in a climate of fear.

NO TO 5% ARBITRARY SACKINGS - WALK OUT AT 1.00PM ON 5 APRIL

5 April action briefing 2 - The public perception of tax avoidance

Our union is taking action on the afternoon of 5 April to mark the end of a week designated as a tax justice campaigning week. It is also the end of the week that sees further increases to our pension contributions and in case anyone has forgotten; we will work longer to get less pension after now twice paying more for this dubious privilege.

Many members asked why there wasn’t more media coverage of the 20 March strike and the simple answer is that it was not through the lack of trying by our union. Unfortunately most of the mainstream media in the UK are owned by or are run by those with a right wing, anti union, agenda.

As members will know, it is our union that has been at the forefront of the tax justice campaign in the UK. We have been highlighting this for a number of years and it is only relatively recently that it has got a higher profile.

What Joe Bloggs thinks

Most, if not all, of the mainstream media still pander to the mainstream Westminster political parties and therefore many members will not have seen or heard about a recent ComRes survey, commissioned by Christian Aid, about the British public’s perceptions around tax avoidance.

It was quite clear from the survey that millions of Britons are now using consumer power to boycott companies seen to be avoiding their fair share of UK tax. Public outrage appears to be growing following recent revelations about the remarkably small amount of UK tax paid by some multinationals.

Some of the key findings of the survey are:

1. 34 per cent of Britons say that they are currently boycotting the products or services of a company because it does not pay its fair share of tax in the UK. Almost half (45 per cent) say they are considering a boycott.
2. 66 per cent Britons now believe tax avoidance to be morally wrong – up 10 percentage points from when people were asked the same question in August 2012.
3. A remarkable four out of five respondents (80 per cent) say that multinationals’ tax avoidance makes them feel angry.
4. 72 per cent of people agreed the government has a responsibility to ensure that all UK-based companies pay the proper amount of tax.

Conclusion

Every PCS member is the Defence Sector group is also a taxpayer; yet we are once again paying the price – this time with the threats to our pay, terms and conditions and the threat announced yesterday of further cuts to the MoD budget in 2015.

The British public now clearly understands the UK has a responsibility to ensure UK plc plays by the rules both home and away. Unfortunately the recent budget announcement that the government is committed to tackling only £4.6bn out of an annual tax avoidance bill of £120bn once again makes a mockery of the ‘all in it together’ claim.

This Christian Aid survey shows that one in three people are actually prepared to change their buying habits and boycott some of the firms seen as not paying their fair share in the UK. The British people also want quality public services and that includes a fully funded and fully resourced Ministry of Defence.

We deserve a Fair Deal – on 5 April, it is time to take action against our employer in the same way the British public are now taking against the Amazons and Starbucks of this world. Stand up and fight for fair pay; fair pensions; and fair terms and conditions.

DEFEND OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS - WALK OUT AT 1.00PM ON 5 APRIL