Dave Bartlett (Group Executive Committee Member-personal capacity)
The membership in MOJ have now voted in favour of the recent offer with 89% in favour, although the numbers voting have not been released. The three year deal which traded conditions for pay was opposed by Broad Left Network supporters in MOJ.
As the only member on the GEC and as a member of the BLN, who came out against the offer, I am still not surprised that this offer was accepted. For many members on the lowest grades ,the attraction of a two year back pay in the next pay packet and a pay increase of 11% over three years became, in the absence of any national campaigning, the only alternative that was on view. As one member put it “this is the best we are going to get in the circumstances”.
However it would be a huge mistake to interpret the result as a massive endorsement for the union and satisfaction with the outcome. This deal is a classic case of concession bargaining where there is a clear line between gainers and losers. What you got in the offer depends on who you are, how long you have been in service and where you work. For some members of many years service and are at the top of their grade, the offer falls well short of the 11% the deal is said to be worth. One legal adviser said to me “if you add in the proposed national insurance increases then the offer amounts to just 0.75%”! And of course this does not take account of inflation which is expected to nullify the value of the deal over it’s three year life time.
The MOJ keep saying this offer will now make the department competitive with other sections in the civil service but that is fantasy. The lowest bands still trail behind while the average salary for legal advisers is £8000 less than an equal comparison in other departments such as the Crown Prosecution Service. If the MOJ was serious about narrowing the gap then why have they insisted that in order to pay for these increases they are taking off Paul to pay Peter?
As part of the deal overtime payments will go down to 1.25 (on average they are double in the DWP). DSOs instead of a 5% top up will be replaced by a £500 payment which is a cut. Allowances of all types will be cut.Its not surprising therefore that a huge number of legal advisers and admin members will chuck in their voluntary Saturday workings as from October when the new rate comes into force. DSOs are also reviewing their positions and some have already resigned before the ballot result was announced.
The union has declared that 600 new members have joined during the ballot. Its always a positive development when we see new members joining which can only benefit us all in standing up for workers rights in the workplace especially during this very difficult period.
The union must now make every effort to keep those members and indeed get some to become involved in union activities. Otherwise there is a danger that many of those could leave the union if it is not seen as relevant to the small everyday matters as well as the crucial matters on health and safety ,pensions and future terms and conditions. If this is not done then many of those who joined in this campaign might just fade away having cast their ballot as was the case in the MEP rejection offer a few years ago.
Some members will gain from this deal in the short term but if we are to avoid deals which sell off conditions and reward some and not others we need to absorb the lesson – there is no substitute for national collective bargaining for a proper pay campaign around a minimum 10% with no strings.
Instead the Left Unity national union leadership abandoned conference policy at the outset of the pandemic telling members as well as senior management “now is not the right time” as they parked the 2020 pay claim. The effect of this was to weaken the confidence of members and strengthen the hand of the employer.
Out of this failure we have now seen a shotgun marriage of concession bargaining in the HMRC earlier this year and now in the MOJ. Trading pay for conditions has been embraced by the Democratic Alliance (Left Unity/Democrats) union leadership at national and group level as a way of avoiding a fight against the government attacks on our pay. They have abandoned the national pay campaign and the 2021 10% pay claim for concession bargaining.
BLN members will continue to demand that the union national leadership launch a national campaign for an across the board increase of at least 10% and to link up with other public sector unions making similar demands.
PCS Broad Left Network 