By a Rachel Heemskerk, NEC member, in a personal capacity
NEC members feel that the obstruction of two senior officers of the Public and Commercial Services Union, the general secretary and president, is blocking the union from taking important decisions in the interests of its members. There is no effective strategy being put forward to members who have faced eroded living standards over recent years and many of whom feel threatened by potential job losses.
There may have been a ‘headline’ 5% pay award earlier this year, but what is not realised by many – because it is hidden in the mainstream media – is that only 2% of that is ‘new’ money and the rest is going to have to come from ‘efficiencies’, in other words job losses. For some the pay rise is up to 8% but for most it is 4 to 5%. There is no lead being given on this issue by the union’s senior officers, although the government is potentially looking at thousands of redundancies.
The problems have arisen because of the splits in the ‘left’ at the top of the union. The newly-elected general secretary, Fran Heathcote, and President, Martin Cavanagh, both represent the ‘Left Unity’ (LU) faction, although most on the left no longer consider LU to be on the ‘left’ any longer. A majority of the recently-elected NEC members support the Broad Left Network(BLN) but much of what is put forward in NEC meeting for campaigns and actions are ruled out of order by the President. Having a majority, but not a two-thirds majority, means the supporters of BLN cannot overrule the chair of the meetings.
There are controversies on the NEC about the members’ levy that was introduced during the pay campaign. This levy, which raised money from all members, of £3 or £5 per monthdepending on their salaries, is still active and is accumulating funds.
Call for review of national levy
When the levy was first imposed, it was supposed to be ring-fenced for Civil Service actions only, but it is believed that some of these funds have been used to support actions of non-CS PCS members.
The BLN majority of the NEC put a motion to the July 10 meeting for a immediate review of the national levy. This review has nort been carried out by the LU leadership.
Another issue that concerns a lot of members is working from home. The so-called Left Unity members on the NEC and the senior national officers do not want to discuss this. It is an issue that affects members and the union should be making a stand on this issue, so that members can be properly consulted on the suitability of working from home, without just being forced to work in an office without any particular rationale for it.
Another important issue that has angered the NEC majority is that the general secretary has created two completely new posts at a senior level. These are both high-grade posts, just below general secretary level, and represent a very expensive outlay for the union, at a time when the general secretary is suggesting an increase in unions subs. Moreover, these newly-created posts seem to have no particular portfolios of responsibility and one cannot help but draw the conclusion that they are being put in merely to bolster the personal position of the general secretary in her struggles to keep the NEC in check.
There have been calls from Broad Left Network supporters for a special delegate conference to try to overcome the blockage at the top of the union and to mandate the national officers to actions. It is possible for branches to call Extraordinary General Meetings to discuss this and to send resolutions to national office. Left Unity supporters seem to treat the PCS as their personal property and have argued that this is not possible. Broad Left Network supporters on the NEC are urging that branches hold these meetings and make representations to the national officers to allow the NEC to do its work.
