VOTE YES TO REJECT THE OFFER
Introduction
The ‘offer’ from the Cabinet Office on a revised Civil Service Compensation Scheme contained swingeing cuts to members’ redundancy terms.
The offer is a package that also includes an attack on the national agreement on redundancy avoidance and on compensation for dismissals.
In an act of cynicism representing the worst of industrial relations practice, the Government has threatened to impose worse terms if the offer is not accepted by what they term a “ sufficient” number of unions.
The National Executive committee met on 18th October 2016 to consider the offer. The NEC has agreed that PCS will oppose this latest attack on terms and conditions and will campaign against it.
Ballot
The NEC has decided to ballot members with a recommendation to reject the offer. Members will be asked the following question:
“Do you agree with the NEC’s recommendation to reject the government’s offer on changes to the CSCS?”
The ballot will open on 7th November 2016 and will close on 28th November 2016. The ballot will be conducted by post with an option for members to vote online.
We have written to the Cabinet Office advising them of our ballot timetable and asking them to extend their deadline for a response to their offer until 30th November 2016 to allow our members to express a view.
The “ Offer”
The offer is almost entirely unchanged from the Cabinet Office’ s initial proposals outlined in its consultation document, despite thousands of PCS members responding in opposition to the changes. PCS, along with POA and Unite, were effectively debarred from the final stages of the talks by the Cabinet Office as we refused to sign up to their outrageous preconditions for further talks which demanded that unions accept many of the detrimental changes that now form their offer. It is clear that the consultation exercise and the talks have been a sham.
In a further act of cynicism, the Cabinet Office has indicated that, unless the offer is accepted by a sufficient number of unions, they will impose further detrimental terms. This is an outrageous attempt to blackmail us and proves why our campaign is important.
The latest round of cuts to redundancy terms comes on the back of a previous round of cuts in 2010. At that time, the then Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, said that those changes were “fair for civil servants and fair for other taxpayers,” and that the changed scheme was “fair, protects those who need the most support, addresses the inequities in the current system and is right for the long term.”
The latest offer from the Cabinet Office proposes a ministerial statement indicating that the Government believes that the latest changes provide a firm foundation for a generation. They then go on to say that “this administration” will not seek to deviate from the terms in the offer. These assurances will ring hollow to PCS members when set against Francis Maude’ s previous comments and the knowledge that “this administration” will only last until 2020 at the latest.
Alongside the cuts to the compensation scheme, the employer now intends to weaken a national agreement on redundancy avoidance in order to make the redundancy process quicker and easier for them. The agreement was secured on the back of industrial action taken by PCS members following the cuts programme announced in 2004. It has stood the test of time and has proved to be an invaluable tool in avoiding compulsory redundancies. In some respects, the changes the employer is intending to make shift the emphasis from job protection to facilitation of job loss.
The NEC has therefore decided that we must reject the offer and mount a campaign of opposition. We have been clear from the outset that we are opposed to these totally unjustified cuts to the CSCS and members have overwhelmingly endorsed this position in the recent survey by a majority of 97.4%. There is nothing in the employer’ s offer that changes that position. It contains unacceptable cuts to members’ terms and conditions, is clearly motivated by a desire to make job cuts more cheaply and has not been subject to genuine discussion and negotiation with unions.
The campaign against the cuts
Our campaign against the cuts will involve:
Political Campaigning
The NEC agreed that we continue to work with the PCS Parliamentary Group to secure political support for our objectives.
During the consultation process, around 2,500 PCS members contacted their MPs asking them to support our campaign through the e-action. Early Day Motion (EDM) 310 has been ( http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2016-17/310) tabled by PCS Parliamentary Group and has 84 signatures – the third most supported EDM this parliamentary session. At least 35 MPs have written to the Cabinet Office Minister, Ben Gummer, to raise constituents’ concerns. We have undertaken detailed political mapping of MPs showing how many times they have been emailed, if they support our campaign and whether they have signed the EDM or written to the Cabinet office (based on responses sent in from members). This intelligence will be used to build the campaign going forward.
The PCS Parliamentary Group will continue to press our case, particularly with the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Ben Gummer. They will especially be raising our concerns about the way in which the consultation and negotiations have been handled. We will also be working with new the Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy, Corbyn, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell, and the Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, Ian Lavery, all of whom are long standing supporters of PCS campaigns.
We will also be using the intelligence we have on Conservative MPs in marginal seats to identify areas of leverage for local campaigns. We will tie in lobbying of MPs to any local campaigns against office closures. Members will be asked to complete an e-action to write to MPs.
Legal Campaigning
We believe the way the government has gone about this is potentially unlawful and we are taking legal advice about challenging it in the courts.
While never a solution on its own, legal action can be a way of helping to stop the government in its tracks and we have successfully used it in the past.
Campaigning against job cuts and closures
The NEC agreed that we will launch a new campaigning initiative to fight jobs cuts and office closures alongside opposing the cuts to the CSCS.
In the consultation on the CSCS, a significant number of Branches suggested that there were other issues in their Branch which could form the basis of industrial action at local level. Many Branches cited office closures and job cuts as being the issues around which members might be prepared to take action. In addition, there were Branches that identified members who they believed were in operational positions capable of delivering significant disruption if they were to take action.
The National Disputes Committee (NDC) will be fully reviewing the outcome of our consultation with Branches. The NDC will also be holding discussions with Branches, Groups, Sector Associations and Regions in order to develop industrial action campaigns at all levels of the Union, including exploring possibilities for campaigns in towns and cities across civil service departments and related organisations.
This work will take place alongside work already underway on building our organisational capacity at grassroots level. This work is key to establishing the significant increase in our bargaining power that the current circumstances require.
Fighting Fund
In order to enable the union to conduct campaigns of sustained industrial action, we will be organising a renewed campaign to get members to sign up to the Fighting Fund.
YES VOTE in the ballot.
MARK SERWOTKA JANICE GODRICH
General Secretary President
PCS Fylde 