Waffle won’t win; we need a serious union campaign in DWP
The union’s executive in DWP met on 23rd September, to discuss what to do about the plans by DWP senior management to push ahead with plans to extend operating hours in Jobcentres and 21 Universal Credit Service Centres (SCs) and to extend the number of claimants unnecessarily attending Jobcentres in person, for face to face appointments.
PCS members in DWP voted overwhelmingly for action; 77% said they were prepared to act in order to prevent DWP plans that pose a risk to their safety.
Even in the few weeks since the ballot the situation has changed dramatically. We have gone from a situation with preparation for the schools in England and Wales to return and the opening up of the economy and socialising with pubs and restaurants reopening, to the chaos we have now. We now have soaring covid-19 infection rates, numerous local lockdowns and the totally blatant disregard for the safety of our members in the haste to book unnecessary huge numbers of face to face appointments which help no-one and put communities more at risk of the spread of the virus.
DWP BLN demands that the disregard of our safety by DWP management needs to be met with a strong response and the need to move to a statutory ballot to stop the extension of services to the public and the extension of opening hours. We can discuss the form of this ballot but we need to give a firm lead and clear message to management that we will stop their plans together. DWP BLN supporters on the GEC argued that branches should have been given the full data and analysis of the consultative ballot to fully arm everyone with all the information to have a genuine say in the consultation of branches that is due to take place. Regions are a vital part of the support for branches and regional/nation committees should be fully involved to work in tandem with branch committees and be fully aware of support branches need rather than being bypassed by the Group.
At same time we need to ensure that not a single member of PCS is left to fend for themselves when it comes to opposing DWP’s plans to extend opening and increase face to face appointments. We must challenge the unsafe and dangerous situation that DWP senior managers are imposing on site by putting unbearable pressure on local managers to book in appointments in every jobcentre regardless of safety. We can use our normal collective methods to mobilise the anger in our offices and oppose the plans – organising safe socially distanced meetings of our members outside in the car parks or in the muster points wherever there is enough room to assemble safely. Not only does the union flexing its muscles rattle the DWP but it also shows members that we can work and act together to stand up to management and oppose the plans. We have argued that the fact that workers can respond immediately to dangerous situations and remove themselves to a place of safety can be used effectively to deal with the immediate attacks we face, whilst we go through the bureaucracy and timeframe of organising a statutory ballot.
Build a safe, socially-distanced face-to-face campaign
Beating the 50% turnout threshold imposed by the Tory government in 2016 is very possible. However it needs to be said that the LU-led GEC launched the consultative ballot and promptly hid behind their computer keyboards.
No group-wide leaflet was produced to allow for desk dropping or leafleting outside buildings. No arrangements were made for face to face meetings. In branches which are controlled by LU GEC members, those reps who wanted to organise socially distanced, safe meetings using protective equipment were told they weren’t allowed to. Instead, emails, poorly attended online Zoom meetings and badly organised and publicised telephone banking was all that happened. BLN supporters on the GEC proposed a clear route to increase the amount of work being done, so that turnout in a statutory ballot would be maximised. This was voted down by Left Unity.
The strategy we put forward is a strategy to win. We urge all branches not to accept the secretiveness of the GEC, and not to accept their unwillingness to lead a serious campaign; we are circulating a draft motion that allows branches to discuss what they think the Group strategy should be, for this to be sent to the GEC, and used in the consultation meetings to demand a serious strategy.
Build a fighting strategy that defends members and builds the union!
The same people as currently lead PCS in DWP put out a branch bulletin from the national union on 29.06.2020 where they claimed that one of the key reasons why the union is shrinking is because of the way the largest government departments are shrinking. Yet DWP is expanding at a fast rate just now; thousands of agency jobs and thousands of permanent jobs are being added – yet recruitment to the union has been slow.
BLN supporters on the GEC were flabbergasted, therefore, when the Left Unity majority that controls the GEC decided to vote against our simple proposal that we need to produce up to date recruitment material and leaflets, as well as specific up-to-date material for the management grades in DWP, who are being put under enormous pressure by politically motivated decision-making.
Senior managers have been heard to acknowledge that yes they have an obligation to protect staff, but they also have an obligation to vulnerable claimants, which is why they’re pressing ahead with the extension of opening hours and the increased number of face to face appointments. At the coalface, HEO and SEO managers in Jobcentres know very well that face to face appointments simply aren’t necessary just now. These grades need union support, but the GEC simply refused!
Meanwhile thousands of new staff, especially young workers, who have never been part of a union, are being thrust into new workplaces. Ensuring branches have the resources necessary to get stuck into the recruitment work should be a high priority – new and enthusiastic union members are exactly the types who would vote yes in any ballot, if advised to do so by their reps. Failing in this task is failing at basic trade unionism.
Will the Left Unity leadership of the GEC be saved by the Tories?
Given the lack of any visible strategy and lack of proposals to build a serious campaign from the union’s leadership in DWP, some members have wondered whether the government’s so-called “firebreak” to prevent a resurgence of Covid-19 will cause DWP to change course. This is how depleted members’ faith in the current leadership has become.
The message from Westminster has been, work at home if you can. This potentially puts an arrow right through the previous Tory plans to drag civil servants – even those safely working at home – into the office one day a week. In HMRC, for example, plans to bring back thousands of staff have now been reversed. Will this happen in DWP? Will it have an impact on the number of face-to-face appointments in Jobcentres?
Alex Chisholm, Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, has indicated that Departments will make up their own minds about this – there will be no central order from the government for departments to send staff home etc. This means the only guarantee for DWP staff will be if we build a serious campaign to oppose management plans to extend operating hours and increase the face to face appointments.
What we know for sure is that even if DWP do change course, these plans will be resurrected as soon as the political priorities in Westminster return to panicking at the state of the economy and to blaming it all on claimants and civil servants. The only course available is to build a serious fight for a binding agreement that protects the health and safety of DWP staff and of members of the public.
Staff must be protected. Members must be protected. We urge all branches to fight for the serious campaigning work that we need to win and stop the reckless, unsafe extension of services and extension of hours from 30th November, and for a national statutory ballot to protect all of our members across all Jobcentres and across the 21 affected Universal Credit SCs.
PCS Broad Left Network 