Public and Commercial Services Union

Motion EM1 was carried, NEC Attitude: support

Conference agrees that, in deciding the national campaign strategy of the union, we must take note of both the high level of support of members for the action on 1st May and the refusal of the employer during April to engage with the union to find a settlement to the dispute.

Conference congratulates the 200,000 members in the civil service and associated organisations who took strike action on 1st May, and maintained the overtime ban for the two weeks following. Conference also thanks the local representatives who organised the pickets, rallies and other events on Mayday, which engaged wide support from other trade unions.

ADC congratulates all those members and reps involved in the ‘Make Your Vote Count’ campaign, which put the issues of our national dispute firmly on the agenda during the elections on 3rd May.

Conference also notes that our campaign, together with the efforts of the union’s negotiators to engage constructively with the employer, have so far prevented the redundancy situation becoming worse.

Conference also notes, with disappointment, that during April the employer postponed a key meeting with the union and that there was a general failure to make progress on our national demands on which the union is in dispute, including a lack of any formal written offers.

It is the considered view of the NEC that, while the employer has so far demonstrated a lack of will to constructively engage with PCS in negotiating an acceptable settlement to the dispute, the union’s campaign work, and particularly the tremendous support for May 1st, significantly increases the pressure on them to do so. Conference endorses the open letter to the Head of the Civil Service which set out the basis for a settlement and once again made clear the union’s willingness to involve ACAS.

Conference rejects the government’s cuts and privatisation programme and reiterates its support for cohesive, publicly owned, adequately resourced civil and public services, staffed by fairly paid, skilled and motivated staff delivering good quality free and accessible services to all who require them. Conference absolutely opposes and deplores the use of the market and profiteering in the delivery of public services.

Conference believes that a settlement to the dispute can only be arrived at through discussion and negotiation.

In the light of the employer’s intransigence, Conference agrees that we must step-up our national campaign in line with the following principles:

1. In building pressure to achieve an acceptable settlement, we must consider further national industrial action, particularly in response to major developments such as significant compulsory redundancies, privatisations or other adverse events. We must continue to combine industrial action at national level with targeted action at group and national branch levels. The NEC shall continue to support local and Group disputes and authorise targeted action where there is membership support in response to the threat of compulsory redundancy, relocation or privatisation.

2. We must work to build on the success of our ‘Make Your Vote Count’ campaign and our work among members of the Westminster and Scottish Parliaments and the Welsh Assembly by maintaining a campaigning presence in every Region/Country to follow up the promises of candidates and build support for the union’s policies – making use of the union’s political fund in a non-party political way to take advantage of all electoral and democratic processes.

3. On the legal front we will utilize the law to challenge the government’s attack on the jobs and working conditions of our members, particularly in relation to unequal pay and compulsory relocations.

4. Given the failure to make progress on coherence and the Government’s announced pay policy to hold public sector pay awards to 2%, way below the current rate of inflation – pay should be seen as a key component of the union’s ongoing dispute. As there is little or no expectation that there can be a departmental solution to individual pay claims, the NEC is instructed to seek to coordinate national action across all areas that do not achieve satisfactory offers or settlements based on the union’s national pay demands.

5. While confident that PCS can achieve an acceptable settlement on the basis of our campaign, working with other public sector trade unions, and taking co-ordinated action when we can, should play an increasingly important role in our national campaign strategy. The TUC, the CCSU and the Public Services Not Private Profit campaign provide important platforms on which we should seek to build the maximum possible unity with other public sector trade unions, particularly on the issues of public sector pay, cuts and privatisation. PCS should campaign positively to involve and win the support of both the TUC and other public sector unions in taking joint coordinated action on pay, cuts and privatisation and build for a national day of action and a national demonstration in defence of public services.

6. We must step up our public campaigning work with new initiatives such as a national petition in defence of public services and public sector workers and other high profile events.


Notwithstanding the success of and support for the action and campaign to date, Conference believes that the implementation of this next phase of the national campaign must be based on the most extensive membership consultation.

Conference believes that members’ support for the campaign, including industrial action, has been based on the NEC’s commitment to the widest possible consultation carried out through initiatives like the regional forums, members’ meetings and the establishment of the National Campaign Liaison Group.

Conference therefore instructs the NEC to consult throughout the union on the options for future action. No option should be excluded, but the NEC should set out its views on the relative strengths and weaknesses.

The consultation should aim to involve all levels of the union not only through regions, groups but also – most importantly – with members and representatives through town and workplace meetings. Wherever possible these should bring together members from different departments/agencies/NDPBs and win their greater involvement in the national dispute.

Following this consultation the NEC should ballot the members covered by the dispute on its recommendations in order to strengthen the union’s mandate should it be necessary to escalate the campaign.

Conference re-affirms its support for the national demands on which the membership were balloted:

• All members who want to continue their careers in public service should be able to do so, and should therefore be protected by guarantees of:
  • No compulsory redundancies
  • No compulsory relocations
• A consistent process to ensure that staff affected by privatisation should suffer no detriment – including no compulsory redundancies post-privatisation.
• A fair national pay system which reverses the fragmentation of pay structures, establishes national minimum standards and protects members’ earnings from erosion by inflation.
• Protection of existing terms and conditions – particularly the Civil Service Compensation Scheme.
• Adequate resources and staff to provide a good service to the public.

Motion A2 was carried, NEC Attitude: support

This conference welcomes the report produced by Steve Davies regarding the government proposals to hand over some aspects of welfare provision to the so-called Third or Charitable Sector.

Whilst recognising the role of voluntary organisations in supporting our customers, this conference believes that it is fundamentally wrong of the government to offer DWP work to the highest bidder and sees this move as privatisation by the back door.

We welcome the work that PCS has done so far to highlight this threat at events including the TUC and the Labour Party Conference and believe that more must be done to raise awareness about what this move towards the third sector actually means.

It is clear that many organisations, including faith groups, are bidding for this work in a crude attempt to make profit out of the most vulnerable in society. We see this as dismantling of the welfare state and a return to the Dickensian methods of the 19th century. We have real concerns about the impact on customers- often the most vulnerable people in society.

This conference believes that the government has a responsibility to make proper welfare provision and that the only appropriate and most cost effective method is in a properly resourced public sector and instructs the NEC to campaign against any attempt by the Government to contract out public sector work under the disguise of charity.

E marked motions associated with lead motion A2: E196-E210, E519

Motion A3 was carried NEC Attitude: support

Further to ADC 2006 Motion A5, Conference notes that the Call Centre Forum held in December 2006 was a great success and should be repeated, at least annually.

It is recognised that PCS Call and Contact Centre members, in both the public and private sectors, are an increasingly key part of the union whose interests often transcend existing group and branch boundaries.

Conference calls upon the NEC and General Secretary to ensure that the necessary staffing and financial resources are available to further the legitimate interests of these members.

Conference instructs the NEC to develop, in conjunction with members in call centres, a policy framework both to protect and to improve their well being at work in line with the union’s personnel management policies and strategy.

The work to do this must be taken forward both within the Union and externally with sympathetic academics and other interested unions in both the UK and overseas. This should include work on job content, countering de-skilling measures promoted by management and positive work on up-skilling in line with the targets set out in the Leitch Report.

However, Conference is also concerned at possible Civil Service Management proposals on pay for workforce segmentation. Whilst welcoming steps to greater pay coherence across departments, the work undertaken in call centres is similar in quality and content to that undertaken in many other areas of the civil service. Therefore, Conference believes that any proposals for such a Call Centre segment must be treated with caution, and be the subject of consultation with the wider membership.

Motion EM14 was carried, NEC Attitude: support

Conference notes the current political situation in Scotland and the close run Scottish Parliamentary elections of the 3rd May in which the SNP emerged as the single biggest political party.

Conference is concerned that during that election over 100,000 voters were disenfranchised due to the fact that their ballot papers were not accepted during the count.

We believe that given the position of the four biggest parties with regard to the Civil Service cuts that regardless of the discussions currently ongoing on forming an Executive of the Scottish Parliament, that our members jobs, whether in a devolved department or not, remain under threat.

Conference also believes that with the prospect of further development of powers to the Scottish parliament that this may also have consequences for the Civil Service in Scotland.

We recognise the excellent work carried out as part of the Make Your Vote Count Campaign and believes that members were given information that allowed them to make an informed choice on which political parties to vote for.

The incoming NEC is therefore instructed to ensure that our members are kept fully informed of any developments that may affect them and resolves to:

• Ask that there be an urgent meeting of the Scotland Committee to discuss the situation
• Issue an all members briefing to members in Scotland on the issues and potential issues for them.
• Continue to develop the work began as the Make Your Vote Count campaign, keep those candidates who expressed support for the Union’s campaign informed of developments in the campaign and carry this work forward to the next elections.
• Continue our campaign to protect jobs and services until our reasonable demands are met.
• Given that the ultimate source of the attacks on the jobs in Scotland is the Treasury and the impact on members are the same as the impact on members across the UK i.e. job cuts, pay limits, privatisation, the best chance for success at defending our members is within the United National Campaign.

Guillotined2: A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, A10, A11 and A12