More Reasons to be a PCS member

Member benefits

PCS and PCS+ benefits you are entitled to:

• Legal
• Insurance
• Finance
• Shopping 
• Helplines
• Benevolent Fund  

Find out more in your PCS+ 2014 Essential Guide.

Unions' legal challenge sees off punitive DfT sick policy

PCS and other civil service unions have successfully challenged plans to unilaterally impose a new 'seriously detrimental' sickness absence policy at the Department for Transport.

The High Court ruled on Tuesday (3 February) that the DfT broke employees’ contracts by failing to reach agreement with recognised unions PCS, Prospect and the FDA before changing its absence management procedures.

Our argument for these workers was that DfT staff terms and conditions and conditions of service are contractual and are described as such in their staff handbook. On that basis new sickness absence arrangements could not be imposed and needed to be subject to a collective agreement, which did not exist, or individual agreement to vary terms, which was not sought.

The 3 unions brought breach of contract claims against the DfT on behalf of members in the central department and its agencies in November 2014. The other organisations are the Highways Agency, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, Driving Standards Agency, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Vehicle Certification Agency and Vehicle and Operator Services Agency.

Staff handbooks for the DfT and its agencies each set out employees’ terms and conditions, with individual agencies able to adopt different policies on matters such as leave, attendance and absence. However, the central DfT handbook says the contract of employment cannot be changed without agreement from either the employees or recognised unions.

Changes imposed

In late 2011, the DfT wanted to introduce a uniform attendance management policy across the core department and all agencies, and walked away from talks with the unions. Despite this, in July 2012, the department imposed a new blanket attendance management procedure.

This introduced new formal and informal ‘trigger points’ for absence management:

• Absences of 5 working days or three occasions in a rolling 12-month period would require mandatory informal action.
• Absences of 8 working days or four occasions in a rolling 12-month period would require a first written warning and then a final written warning, possibly leading to dismissal.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka welcomed the ruling: "This case proves the importance of taking legal action to defend and preserve members' hard-fought terms and conditions in the face of management's illegal attempts to undermine them. The already over-stretched staff who bare the brunt of these vindictive policies are often those who suffer chronic illnesses and suffer anxiety because of the threat of disciplinary action."

PCS DfT president Paul Williams said: "This is in an overwhelming judgement in our favour, and a vindication of members' determination on this issue. We now urge the employer to get back in to proper talks with the unions on a non-detrimental sickness policy that covers all DfT agencies."

Judge’s ruling

The judge, Mr Justice Globe, said the claimants should be granted declarations that the DfT and its agencies had breached their contracts of employment by not seeking consent from the recognised unions before unilaterally imposing the new sickness absence policy.

He said that new procedures were fundamentally different to the old ones and would be seriously detrimental to employees.

He cited two examples:

• a DSA employee who continued to work despite having been struck on the head by a defective door handle and knocked unconscious for a period.
• a DVLA employee who came into work with his nine-month old child because his wife was ill and he could not get help with childcare.

He ruled that:

• the old procedures and policy would continue to apply
• the new procedures could not vary contracts of employment and were not contractually binding
• by imposing the new terms, the DfTand its agencies had committed an anticipatory breach of contract
• if the new procedures are applied to individuals, the DfT and its agencies will commit a breach of contract.

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This government is using the state as a union buster

This government has launched an ideological attack on a TUC-affiliated union. This union-busting has so far gone unnoticed by much of the media, after all it’s not happening during a long national dispute or general strike. It’s behind the scenes, but its aim is to silence a prominent critic of austerity: PCS.

For decades the way in which civil service workers paid their union subs has been through automatic deduction from their pay packet. This scheme, known as check-off, survived unscathed from 18 years of Thatcher and Major, and 13 years of Blair and Brown.

But now, directed by Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, government departments and agencies have given us minimal notice that they will redraw the scheme. They say this is to save money – and why should the government subsidise a trade union’s membership collection? Many large businesses operate a similar scheme too, it costs little to administer and we offered to pay it. They refused.

They refused because this seemingly small technical change is an ideological attack, an attempt to break our union financially and weaken us industrially.

It means that we have to re-sign up three-quarters of our membership – over 150,000 people. They clearly thought this would break us – as it might a lesser union – but our reps and members have risen to the challenge. In just a few months we have signed up 73% of our membership in the Home Office – one of the first departments to announce it would end the scheme. But even that remarkable sign-up rate – one that no union has ever been asked to or managed to deliver – means we will lose thousands of members and thousands of pounds in revenue.

Over the coming months, more and more departments – from the DWP to HMRC – will withdraw check-off in an attempt to break our union. This has been accompanied by a document leaked to us from one department which showed senior management planning to “marginalise PCS”, slash the facility time of key reps, and support the setting up of a compliant staff association.

This is union-busting pure and simple, and fits with a pattern we have encountered in other civil service departments. And of course it fits with the Tories’ recent announcements about new balloting rules to limit democratic strike action. Being targeted is in some ways a badge of honour; we have been one of the leading voices communicating an alternative to austerity, and played a major role within the TUC in building co-ordinated action across the public sector – unafraid to take on Tory leaders in the media.

Their attack won’t silence or beat us. We have had to take some tough decisions, and have re-structured our union to respond to the immediate mammoth organising task and to cope with the financial fall-out.

PCS will survive, but we are asking for your help. We want everyone to email their MP to tell them to support our campaign and to urge Cameron and Maude to retain check-off. In your trades council, let local PCS colleagues know you are ready to help them in whatever way they need. If you have contacts with the Labour frontbench, contact them to pledge to restore check-off if they win in May.

We are under attack for standing up to this government and its austerity programme, but with your support and solidarity we can come through this period stronger. A weaker PCS means a weaker trade union movement – so I hope together we can resist this attack, resist austerity and kick out this union-busting government.

• See www.pcs.org.uk/stopunionbusting for more on how you can help the PCS campaign against union-busting

Stress

Stress, as defined by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), is the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them.

Pressures can come from inside or outside the workplace, or a combination of both.

PCS firmly believe that employers should not try to distinguish between work-related and external pressures - if the result is affecting work performance, employers should be trying to help.

Tackling causes of stress

PCS policy is to deal with stress by removing, or controlling, the causes of stress at work.

This means ensuring, for example, that targets are set with input from staff and are achievable and that clear and effective procedures exist to deal with bullying and harassment in the workplace.

However, securing such progress can take time and knowing that such aims are being pursued does not helpwhen someone feels under excessive pressure.

What is needed then are more immediate solutions, to bring down pressure levels and avoid longer-term health problems that can result from sustained periods of stress, for example, insomnia, anxiety and depression or heart and gastrointestinal problems.

What to do if you feel stressed at work

1) Remember that stress is not a personal weakness nor is it 'your fault' - employers have a legal duty to protect your health and safety at work.

2) Try to work out what is causing the pressures.

Stress can be caused by poor working environment, factors include: 

• noise
• temperature
• ventilation
• humidity
• lighting levels

It can also be affected by organisational issues such as: 

• lack of job security
• poorly planned changes at work
• inadequate resources
• inadequate or unclear communications

Job design can also be an issue that can cause stress. Factors to be aware of include:

• unrealistic targets
• too much or too little work
• inadequate training
• fear of violence or abuse

Relationships at work can also cause stress. Are you facing problems such as: 

• harassment
• discrimination
• bullying
• conflict between home and work responsibilities.

3) Don't ignore the issues - they won't just go away.

Talk to your union representative. enlist their aid in securing improvements - it may not only be you experiencing pressure from the same causes. You may need their support to take forward grievance or other complaint procedures especially if you are being harassed, bullied or discriminated against.

Talk to your line manager, either yourself or with or through your union rep. Some employers have procedures to tackle stress-related issues, such as overwork; if it is a training issue, additional support may be available.

Go and see your GP, if you have concerns about stress affecting your health; don't be tempted to put your well-being at risk, such as by stopping taking breaks from VDU work or taking other shortcuts in safe working procedures

Be alert to possible changes of behaviour that stress can cause - increased smoking, drinking, poor sleep patterns.

Union-busting at the heart of government

Conservative ministers have launched a campaign of union-busting at the very heart of government. Their actions show how the Tories will attack union rights across the whole public sector if they form a government after the election. But their actions also give the green light to employers to go on the offensive against unions across the UK.

Our movement represents millions of voters, their families and communities. We all need strong unions and need to put our rights at the centre of the 2015 general election.

Please support our campaign – write to your MP and ask them to commit to support trade union rights in under this and the next government

Check-off to end - act now to protect your union membership

PCS has received notice from the Ministry of Defence that it is removing the check-off facility that allows you to pay your membership subs through deductions from your salary. 

All members must act now to stop the department effectively cancelling your membership without your permission and by signing up for direct debit you could win £1,200.

This notice from the MoD will effectively cease your trade union membership, unless you take action to safeguard it.

A political attack

We made strong arguments to stop the department ending check-off and also made the case for a longer notice period, but the department chose to ignore our legitimate concerns. Trade unions are being singled out as charities and other organisations will continue to enjoy check-off.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "This is an unnecessary political move by the Tories, but we’ll not let them undermine us. Please sign up today to help our union remain a strong and independent advocate for members."

Act now to protect your membership

You can help secure our future, remain a PCS member and stay protected at work against an increasingly hostile employer by giving our union your direct debit details now.

We need as many members as possible to act now, so that we can guarantee a smooth transition and continuity of membership as check-off is withdrawn.

Your bank details will be held securely on our union’s systems, which are compliant with data security procedures.

There is no advantage to leaving things until the last minute. You won’t end up paying twice, or paying more, but you could end up without the protection of your union.

Sign up and ask a colleague toregister their details, too.

Proud to have been apart of 18 Oct 2014

Organised by The Trades Union Congress (TUC) marches took place in the capital, Glasgow and Belfast, under the banner ‘Britain Needs a Pay Rise’ in the week after NHS workers made their biggest strike in 30 years.

Tens of thousands of people including PCS members from across the union and the Defence Sector group took to the streets to protest against low pay amid the “biggest squeeze on incomes since Victorian times”.

Did you know:

5m Five million people in Britain are earning less than the living wage.

175 Top directors earn 175 times more than the average worker.

£50 Average wages have fallen by £50 a week in real terms since 2008.

Poverty line For the first time more people in work are below the poverty line than those out of work. 

278% The average FTSE chief executives' pay has increased by 278 percent since 2000. 

48% The pay of the average FTSE 100 worker mean while has risen by just 48 per cent in that time.