Left Unity is holding elections to decide who its General Secretary candidate should be – the Broad Left Network has agreed to support Marion Lloyd and urges Left Unity members to nominate Marion at your forthcoming LU branch nomination meetings.
PCS members have been singled out by successive governments, leading to a significant reduction in union membership and members facing real-terms pay cuts of around 20% over the last decade. There is major disconnect between organising & recruitment and PCS’ bargaining agenda. This has to be fixed and requires a new strategy.
Marion has been active in PCS for forty years and has made major contributions to both PCS successes and the growth of the left, having been a member of Left Unity (and the Broad Left prior to LU’s formation) all of her working life. She’s represented members from local to national level, currently serving as both a member of the NEC and the BEIS Group President. Marion has a wealth of experience and has used this to lead many successful disputes, including most recently leading strike action to prevent the closure of the Sheffield BEIS office.
Marion’s record as a union activist is undisputable and as a socialist and member of the Socialist Party, Marion is dedicated to campaigning for the changes PCS requires to defeat the government’s anti-union agenda. This includes the following aims…
- A grassroots equality agenda – PCS needs to fight for BAME, Disabled, LGBT & Women members’ rights throughout the union. PCS currently has a top-down approach to equality – we need to identify and remove barriers so that Equalities Strands are fully represented within every tier of the union, addressing problems such as women constituting only 30% of delegates to conference and the shameful discrimination still faced by transgender activists from some activists on the left
- Empowerment of lay activists – PCS can only be successful if activists are given the support and confidence to build the union from the ground up. Local activists understand the issues facing members better than anyone and should be front & centre in developing PCS’ bargaining agenda. The run-up to the recent pay ballot saw a huge number of activists’ views ignored which led to a failure to meet the ballot threshold and left conference split down the middle at a time when solidarity is vital
- A safe space for democratic debate – personal attacks against activists expressing their views has to stop. In doing this, PCS needs to reverse the trend towards the top-down centralisation that has dominated decision making over the last year. Democratic decisions should be respected, but only when activists have the confidence to put forward their views without fear of recrimination
- A strong political voice – PCS members will benefit from a Corbyn-led government delivering an anti-austerity agenda, however in supporting this it is vital that PCS retains its political independence
In addition to campaigning for these aims, Marion has made a personal promise that should she be elected as General Secretary, she will seek no material gain from the position and only take her current wages. Marion will give anything over and above this back to PCS.
BLN is delighted to not only have a candidate of Marion’s calibre standing in the LU election process, but also, to have a candidate who is dedicated to campaigning for a programme which will enshrine democracy, equality and socialism at the heart of PCS and LU. Please support our campaign and nominate Marion to be Left Unity’s candidate for PCS General Secretary.
PCS Broad Left Network 