Public and Commercial Services Union

Dear colleague

We have reached a national agreement with the Cabinet Office which provides members in the civil service and related bodies with improved protection from compulsory redundancy.

This significant stage in our national campaign builds on the success we previously achieved in protecting our pensions.

This Campaign Update outlines the agreement and other developments in our national campaign. Meetings are being arranged to update your representatives on the content of the agreement in order to ensure you are given the best possible protection in your workplace.

We hope you will find this update reassuring. Whilst this is good news, the vital issue of civil service and public sector pay remains unsettled. We now need the same unity, commitment and determination in our campaign for fair and equal pay.
With best wishes

Mark Serwotka, general secretary

Janice Godrich, president

Campaigning works – action gets results

The achievement of a national agreement on protection from compulsory redundancy shows that campaigning, and a willingness to take action when necessary, gets results.

The agreement will be put to our Annual Delegate Conference in May for endorsement. Members will vote in a ballot later in the year.

In 2004, the government announced massive job cuts as part of its ‘efficiency programme’. In response we launched a major campaign including a national strike in November that year.

As a result, a National Protocol was established whereby the Cabinet Office would try to seek alternatives to redundancy.

This was not a formal agreement with the union though. It became apparent that although hard negotiating and campaigning prevented many compulsory redundancies, the Protocol needed strengthening as a national agreement.

We engaged in talks with Ministers and Officials but towards the end of 2006 it became apparent that the employer was not engaging seriously in these talks.

In order to put pressure on the employer, we held a national ballot on industrial action during January 2007.

Members voted overwhelmingly in favour. Successful national stoppages on 31 January and 1 May were accompanied by overtime bans and political pressure through our Parliamentary groups and the Make Your Vote Count campaign.

At the same time we also conducted the biggest consultation the union had ever seen, with every member having an opportunity to attend a meeting with a national speaker.

Another consultative ballot in October showed members’ continuing support for the dispute, but before further national industrial action was called PCS was offered, for the first time, national negotiations with the Cabinet Office on all the issues above.

What the agreement means for you

We now have a formal agreement with the Cabinet Office which sets out in detail the steps that departments will have to take when there is a risk of redundancy. Unions will have a clear right to be informed and consulted throughout the process.

These steps should ensure that any member who is declared to be surplus but wishes to continue to work in the Civil Service or associated areas will be made an alternative job offer. Those under threat of losing their jobs in one department will take priority in applying for
vacancies in other departments.

The agreement is not an absolute guarantee of job security. But it will provide strong protection from compulsory redundancy.

PCS remains opposed to any compulsory redundancies and the national executive committee has restated its intention to reconvene and decide on further industrial action should any compulsory redundancy notices be issued.

Privatisation and outsourcing

PCS remains implacably opposed to privatisation and other forms of out-sourcing.

We have made clear to the employer our principled opposition to privatisation, whether to the private or “third” sector, and that we will continue to campaign and lobby against it. In the recent past we have had successes in the NHS Pensions Agency and Forensic Science Service.

Now, for the first time, we have national guidance on good practice for dealing with staff where their functions are being outsourced or privatised.

Departments will have to consult with unions over outsourcing. They will have to take steps to avoid transferring staff to companies or charities only for them to be made redundant and justify any decision not to consider in-house bids.

It has been agreed that this process will be overseen by the union and the Cabinet Office.

Where next?

Members’ willingness to take action and the union’s campaigning work has delivered major national agreements at a time when we face an unprecedented cuts and privatisation programme from the Government.
We will need to continue to campaign for the union’s outstanding demands, including being prepared to take industrial action if necessary.

Pay

Our national campaign has resulted in the first national negotiations on pay for fifteen years. These talks are making steady progress on new civil service-wide pay arrangements – common pay rates for the same jobs in different departments – and establishing national terms and conditions such as hours and holidays.

If successful, this would be a significant step forward in our campaign for a fair national pay system that sees an end to the huge pay gaps that exist across the civil service. Further information will be issued as soon as possible.

But these negotiations will not solve the problems of low pay settlements. These are being caused by the government public sector pay policy of a below-inflation 2% cap on settlements, when inflation is running at more than 4%. This is causing disputes across the public sector.

This must now become the major focus of our national campaign.
We have submitted a national pay claim for 2008 which makes a series of crucial demands including a minimum rate of £8 per hour (£17,539 p.a.) and an across the board increase of at least 6% in addition to any progression or increments.

This is modest – it would only match expected inflation in 2008 and make up some of the ground lost in 2007. But it is necessary to protect our members from cuts in real pay.

If we are to win this, it will require further efforts. We have proved that we can win better protections for our members in the face of massive job cuts. We successfully defended public sector pensions by preparing united action with other public sector unions.

Both the teachers’ and further education lecturers’ unions plan to strike on 24th April over pay. We believe that this offers a chance to demonstrate widespread opposition to the public sector pay limit.

The national executive committee is calling on all PCS groups who have already balloted to take action over pay to do so on 24 April. But even if you are not yet formally in dispute over pay, try to attend a rally or demonstration in your area. 

Civil Service Compensation Scheme

We remain concerned that “reforms” to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme, which provides money for redundancy and early retirement payments, could reduce the current entitlements of existing members. PCS is ready to respond quickly to any threatened detriment to members’ interests.

What’s the real rate of inflation?

Most people take the Retail Price Index (RPI) as the measure of inflation. This shows an increase in prices of 4.1% in the year to February 2008.

The Government, however, insists on using something called the Consumer Price Index (CPI) when talking of pay increases.

The CPI leaves out key costs such as mortgages, rents and council tax. Not surprisingly, it is always much lower – 2.5% at present.

But the government increases state pensions and benefits by the RPI – not the CPI. Student loan interest is linked to the RPI. So too are bonds issued by the government to investors.

But even the RPI does not show the everyday cost increase we face. Because it includes things which are falling like electronic goods, air fares and mobile phone costs, it can mask increases in necessities. Retailer ASDA recently published research showing that household costs were up by 4.9%.

Public sector Pay: myths and realities

Government myth: ‘Fair pay increases for public servants will cause inflation.’

Reality: ‘An undergraduate who wrote in an essay that inflation was caused by public-sector pay rises would receive a fail’ – Andrew Oswald, Professor of Economics, Warwick University

Public sector pay rises ‘have nothing to do with inflation’ – Professor
Stephen Nickell, Oxford University

Most economists agree that inflationary pressures are being caused by rising food, housing and energy costs.

Public servants are the victims of inflation – not the cause.

Government myth: ‘A 2 per cent rise is fair.’

Reality: Basic living costs are rising fast. In the past year average food prices have risen by 12 per cent and mortgage costs by 11 per cent. Without a pay increase that reflects the real cost of living many public
servants will see a fall in their living standards and struggle to pay their
bills.

In the past year the average pay of the top company directors has
risen by 50 per cent – from £2m to £3m. There is nothing ‘fair’ about that. 

Get involved in our campaign for fair pay increases!

PCS is campaigning for fair pay rises for all our members in the public sector. We are demanding basic increases of at least the rate of RPI inflation.

We are coordinating action by our members and calling for joint campaigning by all unions in the public sector against the government’s pay policy.

Write to or email your MP. Ask your local PCS rep how you can become more active in your branch.

If you are not a PCS member then find out about joining now.