Month: Mar 2024

At its meeting on 5th March the DWP Group Executive Left Unity majority refused to discuss a motion from Broad Left Network (BLN) members in support of DWP security guards employed by G4S.

The motion was based on an official announcement from the GMB union which said “1000 job centre security guards to vote on strike action – 70% of the workers employed by G4S are only on minimum wage.” The motion called for a message of solidarity and for PCS to take a proactive approach to support fellow trade union members and increase the pressure on G4S to address the disgraceful low pay of the security guards we work with in our offices.

The DWP Group President and prominent Left Unity member, refused to publish the motion, saying the meeting was called to discuss GEC motions for the DWP Group Conference in May and that in his view the motion was inaccurate as the “GMB haven’t formally confirmed…” the ballot. Come back to the next GEC in April supporters of the motion were told!

The thought of actually doing something positive petrifies this ineffective Left Unity leadership in DWP. They look for any excuse to do nothing. The bare minimum of sending solidarity to other workers preparing to struggle over pay is too much for them. Their solution as always is to kick the can down the road. They failed to recognise the huge industrial leverage that this relatively small number of GMB members have. They have the power to shut down the vast majority of the 100s of DWP offices which would not be safe to open without the security guards.  G4S struggles to provide cover for just normal absences and jobcentres are frequently closed because of this. We should be doing everything we can to ensure that senior DWP management recognise the impact of G4S refusing to increase their workers’ pay and keeping so many vital workers on minimum wage levels. And help bring this pressure to bear on G4S too. We will do everything we can to ensure our fellow trade unionists win a decent pay rise. 

As the Left Unity leadership is unwilling to do anything we call on all PCS activists in the DWP to talk to our local security guards to show our full support and offer solidarity in their fight for a pay rise and make sure they are union members. We can also raise the issue with DWP management at district and regional/nation level and the prospect of our offices being closed if the guards go on strike.  So that we can help exert pressure through the DWP onto G4S and help our fellow workers.

This is just another example of why we need to change this ineffective leadership and would urge everyone to help the Broad Left Network campaign to get the vote out for our joint slates of candidates for the PCS National Executive Committee NEC Elections 2024 and the DWP Group Executive Committee elections in April. Group Elections 2024

Here is the motion submitted by BLN members on the DWP GEC –

The GEC notes that 1000 DWP Security Guards are being balloted by GMB for strike action on pay against a background of 70% being on the minimum wage.

The GEC extends support to these workers and agrees to send a message of solidarity.

The GEC instructs the Group Officers to organise a national briefing for reps to explain the background to the dispute, and if possible, to invite a GMB speaker with knowledge of the dispute so that reps can ask questions, and can use this information to show support from PCS to the G4S security guards in branch workplaces. The briefing should also include advice on what non-members of any union and PCS members in G4S security roles should do, so that reps can support the dispute. The GEC officers are further instructed to approach the relevant National Negotiating Committee in GMB, through appropriate channels in both PCS and GMB, to see what other support can be provided.

Negotiators must: –

• Demand of the department that all Jobcentres be closed to the public on strike days on grounds of safety. The number of business continuity incidents reported to close sites indicates G4S already struggles to cover normal absences of the guards.
• Expand existing PCS H&S advice about the necessity to close or partially close Jobcentres to the public if the full security guard resource identified in the JCFRA is not present, to include guidance on what to do if the security guards call strike action. 
• Include guidance on steps to take if management do not respond to the need to close Jobcentres when security guards strike action is called.
• Publicise a clear process to urgently escalate concerns
• Ensure that members can invoke their rights on serious and imminent danger and not work in a jobcentre without security guards under regulation 8 of The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and Section 44 ERA 1996. 
• Produce guidance for the back of house sites too where many of the safety control measures in the site risk assessment are reliant on security guards being present. These sites should also be closed if there is a risk to the safety of our members.

As PCS elections begin Left Unity, the increasingly discredited leadership of PCS, resorts to lies in a desperate attempt to divert attention from its failings – most significantly the handling of the national campaign which it “paused” (ended) last year when more could have been won by stepping up the action.

Arising out of a recent NEC meeting they claim that “BLN Calls for Labour Party Affiliation”. This is a lie and they know it. The Broad Left Network is opposed to Labour Party affiliation and supports the PCS agreed political strategy of only supporting candidates who agree with our union policies.

It is Left Unity which has a record of unconditional support for Labour, when at the last general election, it called for support for all Labour Party candidates including those who had backed austerity measures.

The truth is that at the last NEC meeting a BLN member expressed a personal view that the union should affiliate to Labour believing this would help turn it back into a workers’ party. This is not the agreed BLN policy. However, the BLN is an open and democratic organisation made up of activists from all parts of the union who are committed to the core principles of BLN such as on union democracy and equality.

The BLN recognises the right of individual members and groups to hold and express different views so long as they do not conflict with its core principles and values. The question of Labour Party affiliation is an example of this.

Unlike Left Unity, the BLN does not weaponise differences and attack its own members for having differences. The BLN is however, totally united on fighting for: –

   -a democratic union

   -a union run by its members

   – a campaigning union committed to restoring real term pay levels which have been driven down under the leadership of Left Unity.

The BLN is not interested in stunts and deceit. We leave that to Left Unity. We are serious about the action needed to restore members faith and pride in our union and are fighting the 2024 union elections on this basis.