Vote Yes in the National Ballot

The national industrial action ballot started on Friday, 8 February, and closes on Monday 4 March. It remains imperative that we make members aware of the ballot, persuade members to vote and to vote 'YES' for action. Please hold a BEC meeting, hold campaign events and members' meetings, remind members to update ballot addresses, and recruit new members.

For updates on activities please check the 'vote yes' section on the PCS website:

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/campaigns/national-campaigns/vote-yes-2013/index.cfm 

A range of campaign material has been dispatched to branches, including a 'Worth Every Penny' leaflet; 'Vote YES' leaflet; and associated posters and stickers. These are also available on the PCS website via the above link. The 'don't forget to vote' postcard is also attached hereto for your use.

They won't talk so we must act - correspondence between PCS and Bob Kerslake: 

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/pcs_comment/index.cfm/id/0DAED667-2237-46CB-9BA91AFCA66210BC

A new video featuring the general secretary and PCS members discussing the reasons to vote 'YES' is now available to view and share:

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/campaigns/national-campaigns/vote-yes-2013/index.cfm

The PCS austerity pay calculator is available here:

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/resources/pay/austerity-pay-calculator.cfm 

E-action - encourage members to write to their MPs about our campaign: 

http://pcslive.bluestatedigital.com/page/speakout/NationalCampaign2013

DWP to blame for fitness-to-work tests fiasco, MPs say

The government should accept much of the blame for distressing and expensive fitness-to-work tests that have caused "misery and hardship" to thousands of benefit claimants, according to a report by MPs released on Friday.

The public accounts committee said there had been much criticism of Atos, the firm contracted to conduct so-called work capability assessments (WCA), but it warned that most of the problems lay with the Department for Work and Pensions.

The tests on claimants were introduced in 2008 to assess entitlement to employment and support allowance. Atos was paid £112.4m to carry out 738,000 assessments in 2011-12.

The MPs' report said: "The Work Capability Assessment process is designed to support a fair and objective decision by the department about whether a claimant is fit for work, but in far too many cases the department is getting these decisions wrong at considerable cost to both the taxpayer and the claimant.

"The department's decisions were overturned in 38% of appeals, casting doubt on the accuracy of its decision-making.

"Poor decision-making causes claimants considerable distress, and the position appears to be getting worse, with Citizens Advice reporting an 83% increase in the number of people asking for support on appeals in the last year alone.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmpubacc/744/74402.htm

Vote Yes Yes in the national Ballot

The ballot of PCS members taking place between 8th February and 4th March is vital for the living standards of our members.

A large YES vote on a healthy turn-out would allow us to begin to redress the balance in the UK economy and secure a fair reward for the hard work civil and public servants continue to provide. 

Throughout the next few weeks we can expect the legitimacy of our demands for a pay increase – 5% of £1,200, whichever is greater – to be challenged. This newsletter is intended to deal with those challenges. 

We’re not “all in this together”! 

According to the Sunday Times Rich List the one thousand wealthiest individuals in the UK increased their wealth by £156bn or 60% in three years between 2009 and 2012. Over the same period, as a result of the public sector pay-freeze and 1% cap, your pay has lost between 16% and 25% of its value in real terms.

Fig 1 

Over the last thirty years, the highest earners have seen a disproportion-ate increase in their pay compared to average (median) and low paid workers, as this graph from the TUC demonstrates. 


Divide and rule – the oldest trick in the book 

A lot of rhetoric from our opponents seeks to pit the interests of public sector workers against private sector workers and, more recently, unemployed workers by establishing an arbitrary “1%” as the benchmark for annual uprating. The fact is, while the super rich continue to line their pockets the rest of us are all suffering. In fact, since the late 1970s when Thatcher’s attacks on the unions gathered pace the share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP – the nation’s “wealth”) paid as wages has fallen dramatically to just under 55%. 


Fig 2: UK wage share as proportion of GDP 




The “missing” 45% is largely profit and helps explain the vast sums accumulated by the people featured in the Rich List mentioned above. 


What about the workers? 

If the power of the unions had not been undermined over three decades and collective bargaining coverage in the whole UK labour market not fallen from 64% to 31% over the same period, average earnings today would likely be over £33,000 per year rather than just under £26,000 per year. 

Fig 3 



When you consider that average earnings usually equate roughly to the EO (or equivalent) scale maxima, it soon becomes clear to what extent workers, including among our membership, have lost out. Neither is this just a UK phenomenon; similar patterns are evident in most advanced industrialised countries. 

Conclusion 

Calls from leading economists on George Osborne to ditch a policy of austerity are growing and it is widely recognised that cuts in spending power are the cause of the double (soon to be triple) dip recession rather than the cure. As we have demonstrated in this newsletter, our demands for a decent pay rise are not just legitimate but necessary. 

VOTE YES/YES 

Fair Deal in Defence campaign update No 10

Since our last Fair Deal update in late December, our union has held a number of meetings with senior MoD management in the hope that we can avoid taking industrial action in order for us to achieve our Fair Deal campaign objectives.

Unfortunately, although we have made some progress and MoD management has come to the table prepared to discuss our concerns; we now have to take action to further pursue our campaign objectives.

Meetings with MoD management

The Permanent Secretary, Jon Thompson acknowledged our concerns regarding job security and overstretch, mobility and redundancy and threats to our terms and conditions in a meeting in mid December. At that meeting, we jointly agreed that further discussions with key officials could develop acceptable solutions to our key campaign objectives.

Several meetings have been held since then and these have been positive and have identified common ground that can be further developed into meaningful concessions and agreements that address our concerns and bring some relief to our union’s members.

Progress halted

We understand that PUS and the Secretary of State have now cleared a full and detailed written response, but as yet our union has not received this response.

Unfortunately the prohibitive trade union legislation in place in the UK meant that as we had not been fully successful in achieving our campaign objectives in these meetings by Monday 28 January, we had to enact our industrial action mandate. If we had not enabled it by this date, the ballot result would have been declared invalid and any action declared unlawful.

Overtime ban

Therefore, although we are making progress, we have little choice but to announce that the Defence Sector Group will start an indefinite overtime ban from 00.01 hours on Monday 4 February.

We have chosen the use of an overtime ban to start the industrial action part of our campaign, as one of the key issues we are currently discussing with MoD management is overstretch in the Ministry of Defence. The department is currently just about able to continue functioning because of overtime being worked by PCS members.

Our union believes that if all PCS members support the overtime ban, the department will very quickly reach crisis levels and we believe it will hasten an agreement between the department and ourselves on our Fair Deal objectives.

Overtime is usually voluntary and we are asking all members not to do any overtime for this indefinite period. If there is any compulsory or conditioned overtime which is counted as contractual pensionable pay, in your area, then you would still do that. If unsure, please seek advice from a PCS rep. If Saturday or Sunday working is classed as voluntary overtime, rather than part of the normal shift rota, then members should not do it.

If the employer makes any threats to deduct pay or take other punitive action as a result of the overtime ban, please contact your full time officer immediately for advice. PCS will resist any such threats.

Overtime ban picket lines

We will attempt to ensure that branches mount picket lines at defence sites that are currently offering voluntary overtime. Branches and members should report where overtime is being offered by emailing information to Tahira Hussain at tahira@pcs.org.uk.

PCS HQ will then work with the GEC, branches, reps and members to ensure we have sufficient pickets at each site with the relevant picket line materials.

Elsewhere in PCS

Defence Sector group members will have seen that last week our colleagues in DWP won guarantees that remove the threat of compulsory redundancy for 43 low-paid jobcentre and benefits staff. Similar to the Defence Sector group, DWP members had voted for industrial action but, after what officials described as "very constructive discussions", the compulsory redundancy notices have been withdrawn.

Today (31 January), PCS negotiators in the Department for Transport (DfT) have called off a strike planned for tomorrow after progress in negotiations lifted the threat of compulsory redundancy for hundreds of staff.

In both of these areas, the respective departments have reaffirmed their commitment to avoiding compulsory redundancies and are now working with PCS on this. We have offered such agreements to MoD management - we can only hope that MoD management value our members in the same way as DWP and DfT members are.

Conclusion

Taking industrial action is always the last resort for our union. We recognise that losing pay at a time of pay restraint and increased pension contributions is difficult and financially painful. By starting our industrial action programme with an overtime ban, we hope to ease those difficulties whilst putting maximum pressure on the department.

Threats to job security, mobility and our terms and conditions allied to further pay restraint, further pension contribution increases and more and more privatisation proposals that will bring a much worse support to the front line is what we face if we don’t stand together.

It is time to stand up and be counted. Do not work overtime and fight for a Fair Deal in Defence.

Trade Union Facility Time - The Truth

Trade union facility time and facilities are the time and resources (such as computers, telephones, photocopiers, access to meeting and/or office rooms) that trade unions negotiate from employers so that they are able to properly represent members, individually and collectively, at work. Some of this time is covered by ACAS Codes of Practice and other Regulations - particularly in the area of Health and Safety - and is an enforceable right. Much of a representatives ‘facility time’ however is a result of collective agreements reached between the union and employers.

There are 6.5million trade union members and around 200,000 carry out representative duties at a workplace level. They carry out a wide range of often complex and demanding activities including; providing informal advice to their colleagues; formally representing members in grievance and disciplinary hearings; negotiating with managers. Many also carry out specialist roles in respect of improving health and safety at work, increasing access to learning and skills, improving equality and diversity in the workplace and making workplaces more environmentally friendly.

• Union representatives have had a statutory right to ‘reasonable’ paid time off to carry out trade union duties since 1975; most of the current provisions come from the Trade Unions and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. The conflict over this provision often arises around the term ‘reasonable’ paid time off.

Despite the portrayal in sections of the media, there is a relatively tightly drawn set of duties for which union representatives receive paid time off for. These include; negotiating with employers, representing members, performing accredited Health and Safety representative duties and accredited Union Learning Representative (ULR) duties.

While there is no obligation for employers to provide paid time off for union representatives to take part in union business it is not uncommon for this to happen across both the public and private sectors. These activities support the role of the workplace union rep and include; taking part in the union’s democratic and decision making structures, attending workplace meetings to discuss union negotiations with employers, meeting with union officers to discuss workplace issues.

Many union reps, despite receiving some paid time off, find this is often insufficient to carry out all of their trade union duties and contribute their own unpaid time.

• The TUC and the then Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR, now BIS) have collected a great deal of information about how trade union representatives time does break down. A BERR review found that the average amount of time taken by a senior union representative was just over 10 hours a week.

• TUC surveys have found that “typically Union Learning Reps receive 2 hours per week paid time and amongst Health and Safety Reps just under half take no more than one hour per week”. BERR also found that “reps in the public sector contribute up to 100,000 unpaid hours of their own time each week”.

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, at the 2011 Tory party conference in Manchester Francis Maude argued that “the support [trade unions] get from the taxpayer has got way out of hand. Just in the Civil Service alone this so-called facility time is costing no less than £30 million a year... We can’t go on like this. That’s why I’m announcing today that we’re consulting on limiting the time civil servants can spend on trade union work and on ending the employment of full time union officials at the taxpayer's expense”.

His speech drew on a report from the right wing Taxpayers Alliance and ignored evidence published by BERR that trade union facility time is a business benefit.
That BERR report, in 2007, found that trade union reps facilities and facility time resulted in;

• £22m-£43m savings for employers and the Treasury from reducing the number of Employment Tribunal cases;
• £136m-£371m benefits to society through reducing working days lost due to workplace injury;
• £45m-£207m benefits to society as a result of reducing work related illness.
  The TUC have updated this information, using the same formulae as the original report but with updated figures. This found that it could reasonably be estimated that the work of trade union reps also results in;

• Overall productivity gains worth between £4bn to £12bn to the UK economy;
• Savings of at least £19m from reduced dismissals;
• Savings to employers of between £82m-£143m in recruitment costs as a result of reducing early exits. 

Despite the rhetoric from Cameron and his cabinet of multimillionaires, the overwhelming majority of good employers view trade union representatives as a positive influence on their businesses. 

Another decimating cut to our armed forces

A meeting of the UK National Security Council will order a shift in resources and energy in its counter-terrorist strategy away from a sole focus on Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East towards what David Cameron described as a "generational struggle" against al-Qaida-inspired militants in north Africa.

Speaking to parliament the prime minister pledged to make international co-operation to fight terrorism a priority of his chairmanship of the G8 leading economies this year.

Cameron wants to see a new intensity of international co-operation to prevent states such as Mali descending into the chaos of Somalia.

Yet today  the Ministry of Defence announced a third round of Army redundancies.

Up to 5,300 job losses were outlined by the government. These are part of cuts already announced to reduce Army numbers from 102,000 to 82,000 by 2017.

Defence minister Mark Francois said the MoD would ensure it retained the capabilities the Armed Forces required "in order to meet the challenges of the future".

We would beg to differ, the Ministry of Defence is stretched to the limit trying to meet the current demands placed upon it. 

The cuts to both the military and civilian components of defence are resulting in a less agile capability.

We believe it is time to stop the cuts in defence and start valuing both the military and civilian staff who are crucial in delivering defence capability.

Defence Cuts Cost: Capability, Lives and Jobs

Tax Raid on Armed Forces Pensions

When the flat rate pension comes into effect in 2017 almost 200,000 servicemen and women face a £47million a year tax raid on their pensions by David Cameron’s reforms.

Troops will have to pay an extra 1.4% in national insurance which will cost an Army private around £162 a year from their take home pay.

The Tory's have always portrayed themselves as custodians of our armed forces.

The continuing attacks by the coalition on defence capability through cut after cut and sustained attacks on the jobs and terms of conditions of both military and civilian staff show the reality is the opposite.