By Sarah Barden A new pay deal has been agreed between Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), but it is unclear whether the union’s conference and membership will accept the deal. The offer sees new starters getting a 5% pay rise over the next five years but […]
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has announced the closure of 86 courts and tribunals across England and Wales. These closures threaten people’s access to justice in towns and rural areas, and the jobs of thousands of workers. The civil service trade union PCS is opposing the closures, alongside MPs, solicitors’ firms, magistrates and the Citizens […]
National Gallery staff have ended their indefinite strike having won serious concessions after 100 days of action. Originally opposing moves to privatise the security and visitor services, PCS members also demanded the London Living Wage and later the reinstatement of Candy Udwin, a senior union rep who was sacked on trumped up charges early on in […]
By Rebecca Anderson, 30 January 2015 The National Executive Committee of the Public and Commercial Services union has made the outrageous decision to cancel annual elections for both their own committee and the Group Executive Committees that lead the various departmental unions, like the DWP. Ironically the current leadership of PCS took the leadership of […]
As the Autumn’s coordinated strike action stalls, Jeremy Dewar reviews the unions’ record and asks how we can stop the retreat Up to 150,000 marched in London, Glasgow and Belfast in October in response to the TUC’s call, “Britain needs a pay rise”. There was wild applause in Hyde Park for our leaders’ speeches, none […]
By Rebecca On 16 January the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) NEC decided to ballot a quarter of a million civil and public servants for strike action over sustained government attacks. Increased pension contributions and four years of pay freezes and caps mean that civil servants will have seen their income cut by 16 per […]
Rebecca Anderson asks why the left has covered up the latest sellout by so-called ‘left’ trade union PCS On 26 June, members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) were due to strike over the cuts and privatisation. They face the threat of 8,500 job cuts, 5,300 of them to UK Border Agency (UKBA) […]
By Rebecca Anderson The issue of overriding importance at this year’s conference of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will again be the battle to save our pensions. The government has now implemented the changes to our pensions – we will work longer, pay more and get less – but this does mean […]
By Mark Booth AFTER A TURBULENT week of union executive meetings, 300 militants packed into Friends Meeting House for an emergency conference to fight the pensions sell out. It soon became clear to everyone at Unite the Resistance’s gathering that the PCS and NUT leaders would not be calling more strikes in the next few […]
PCS Left Unity, the leading faction in the civil service union, opened its doors to activists from all unions to debate the way forward, ahead of a pivotal week in the pensions dispute. But PCS leader Mark Serwotka and the influential Socialist Party promised further action but refused to name a date for the next […]