At the same time as showing their complete disregard for the safety of staff, a series of recent announcement has caused shock across DWP. First came the announcement by the DWP Permanent Secretary on 24th November that it would not be possible for DWP to keep on all of the 13,500 temporary work coaches, recruited during the pandemic. Then on 25th November, DWP senior leadership put out an email to 37 sites reminding them that the plan was to close these sites.
Disgracefully, this email also contained ideas about how staff at these sites should prepare, e.g. by undertaking further qualifications, or apprenticeships, in order to make themselves more employable and therefore more likely to gain redeployment following the closure. Throughout the material put out by DWP there were strong hints that redeployment was not guaranteed; jobs are at stake at offices from Dover to Dundee, from Liverpool to London. Members are angry and want answers.
DWP Group Executive Committee: deafening silence
Four out of the 37 sites mentioned above have already had closure dates announced. Redundancies look likely. A week on from this, nothing has been heard from the GEC. GEC officers have reassured reps that they are giving all possible support to the branches involved, but without a campaign, “support” doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. We need the GEC to lead, to link up branches and to prepare the union in DWP for a major national campaign.
Meanwhile, GEC officers are blabbing about how up to 7,000 temporary work coach jobs are at risk. This is not what management have said. This figure has not been reported by GEC officers to the GEC as a whole. Most importantly of all, reps and members are being kept in the dark. If this is true, it is a massive attack on current staffing levels. Yet the GEC has admitted that they have not even asked for permanency for all temporary staff, they have merely asked for targeted recruitment.
Branches move towards dispute
Broad Left Network supporters have been working in their branches and with sympathetic branches specifically to target the sites where Fixed Term & casual staff are based, in full recognition that only by organising these members and preparing for action can we put maximum pressure on DWP to make them permanent. As a consequence, some contract extensions have been announced. This is not enough and some staff are still scheduled to leave in March. We have time to build the campaign that could defeat such a move – if you are interested, get in touch with us.
Workloads, staffing, office closures – a national campaign is needed
At the same time as DWP have been preparing for office closures and for letting go thousands of temporary staff, not to mention potentially making redundancies, members at work are under more pressure than ever. In front facing jobs, members report a return of the pressure to refer every single fail to attend for a sanction. This is madness, in the era of Covid-19. Twenty appointments a day are not uncommon in Jobcentres, and telephone lines are snowed under. Meanwhile DWP have privatised parts of PIP telephony, causing chaos across that benefit.
- We must fight to retain our FTA & casual staff in DWP, including 13,500 work coaches.
- We must fight to retain our offices – closures are ludicrous when DWP has just opened dozens of “REEP” sites as a result of the pandemic.
- Where offices must close, because the owners are throwing us out, every job must be guaranteed and we must secure the best redeployment terms for members.
- We must fight to reduce workloads on all staff across DWP – further recruitment is needed!
This is a national campaign that takes in vast swathes of the operational areas of DWP. The GEC is currently hiding behind the old “there’s no mood” excuse, instead of pro-actively getting out to build a mood. We are patiently working on this, gradually moving areas towards dispute, and linking them up as each one moves forward. We need all reps who wish to fight on behalf of their members to link up with us – so if you want to fight, contact us.
PCS Broad Left Network 