The announcement of HMRC’s pay award has hammered the final nail into the coffin of the PCS NEC’s so-called pay “strategy”, rendering the outcome of the NEC’s face-saving ballot irrelevant in the process.
It has been clear since June that that the out-going General Secretary, Mark Serwotka, alongside his Left Unity NEC lackeys, believed that the Cabinet Office decision to increase the pay remit to 4.5% (in addition to awarding the controversial and non-consolidated Cost of Living Payment of £1500 for full-time staff) was sufficient to settle the pay dispute. PCS members from all factions and none overwhelmingly disagreed with this, such was the anger expressed in branch meetings, on social media and in the stage-managed PCS livestreams.
At this stage, if Left Unity truly believed that PCS is member-led, its NEC caucus would have accepted that it made a bad call and listened to PCS members, not only continuing the industrial action campaign, but also escalating it. However, despite what it says Left Unity does not believe in a member-led union – particularly so when members’ views chime with BLN demands. Instead, its response to members’ anger was to prevaricate for a number of weeks before launching a nebulous consultative ballot which has very little to do with the PCS pay campaign, but has a hell of a lot to do with Left Unity desperately scrambling for political cover ahead of the General Secretary election.
The BLN has argued throughout this pointless ballot that members should vote no, with one of the main reasons being that GECs have no capacity to push departments into meeting PCS’ 10% pay claim when departments are working within the Cabinet Office pay remit of 4.5%. PCS’ pay claim can only be met through sustained industrial action being taken throughout the Civil Service.
The DWP GEC has already rejected the DWP pay offer, meaning that a number of those same Left Unity members who voted for delegated pay bargaining at the NEC have now been forced to vote against its inevitable outcome at the DWP GEC. And now, their HMRC-based NEC comrades have been forced to do the same.
HMRC has announced the following pay award…
- 5.07% for AAs
- 6.27% for AOs
- 5.05% for Band Os
- 4.26% for HO to G6
- Non-consolidated pay for anything above the max for your grade
- Increased budget for one-off payments
- Introduction of increased pay for “critical roles”
Whilst the percentage value for each grade is about what we’d expect when working within the narrow-confines of the pay remit, the final pay award – which HMRC will impose without further discussion – is still a kick in the teeth for HMRC staff. HMRC has recognised that due to chronic low-pay, it cannot recruit into certain roles and in order to address this it will deem these roles to be “critical”, increasing the pay award for these roles in order to help recruit and retain staff.
Whilst this move is an admission by the department that pay is so poor that people simply do not want to work for HMRC, it has simultaneously diverted well-over £1m of our pay pot into its “Simply Thanks” scheme – effectively one-off non-consolidated awards, in the form of £20 shopping vouchers, that are occasionally given to PCS members who a panel has decided have went “above-and-beyond” their normal duties. This is horribly cynical – hard-pressed members should receive every penny available from the pay pot instead of being forced to do even more work for less pay, just to get a £20 voucher for Iceland.
Additionally, around 45% of HMRC staff are HO or above. This means that 45% of HMRC staff aren’t even getting the 4.5% set out in the pay remit – they’re getting 4.26%. That’s before even factoring in the non-consolidated aspect.
PCS members should direct a healthy dose of anger towards HMRC and the Cabinet Office, with a pay award which given the Cost of Living crisis can only be described as cynical and nasty. However, we should also remember that this award is a direct consequence of Left Unity NEC members’ decision to collapse PCS’ pay campaign. Indeed, in his last significant act as PCS General Secretary, Serwotka has obliterated PCS’ pay campaign in favour of a pay award which is less than half of PCS’ democratically agreed pay claim – and a pay award which in reality will see every single PCS member in HMRC receive a real-terms pay cut. This will be Serwotka’s legacy.
Whilst the BLN still urges PCS members to vote no in the NEC ballot, given the fact that PCS members in the largest two Civil Service departments have now received unacceptable pay awards, the NEC has no choice but to recommence PCS’ industrial action campaign – Left Unity cannot spin continued inaction at this stage as anything other than capitulation.
The BLN is absolutely convinced that, even after weeks of Left Unity dithering, a fresh industrial action campaign will deliver the pay rise that PCS members deserve – however based on their track record it is clear that PCS members cannot trust Left Unity to deliver. With pending elections, it now more obvious than ever that changes need to be made at the top of PCS which is why the BLN is urging all members, through their branches, to nominate Marion Lloyd for General Secretary and John Maloney for Assistant General Secretary.
Throughout this whole debacle, Marion and John have consistently argued for a continuation of PCS’ industrial action campaign in order to win the pay rise that we deserve and to avoid the consequences of Left Unity’s abject failure. If we have learned anything from this pay campaign, it is that Marion & John are the only candidates we can trust to deliver what PCS members want most – a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.
PCS Broad Left Network 