The DWP pay offer was finally published to all DWP staff on the 14th October. PCS members, in particular the lowest paid grades and those on “legacy” terms will be extremely disappointed with the management’s offer.
Whilst the award is above inflation, and in November pay – a temporary relief to many just before Christmas, this small increase in take home pay will soon be eaten up by the never-ending rises in the cost of living and does not address the years of pay neglect.
So rightly, members and many union activists will want to know how their union leadership will respond.
The pay award was rightly rejected by the DWP Group Executive Committee. But this is all well and good – but what is their plan for winning on pay for members across the DWP, including thousands stuck on the minimum wage and bottom of pay scales?
It’s not enough to say “no” and the Left Unity leadership should now be urgently preparing the ground amongst the DWP membership, to build the support necessary to win a statutory ballot on pay, staffing and the other issues facing members. As the biggest group in the union this could also lay the basis for re-invigorating the so called “national campaign” which the same people are blocking at national level.
There are few Civil Servants saying that they are paid enough. This “rise” does not come close to meeting PCS policy, passed in Motion A315 at May’s union conference. This set out key demands including for a 10% pay rise with £15 p/h minimum wage as a step towards pay restoration to undo the significant real term pay cuts we have suffered since 2010 and beyond (around 32% on average). It also does nothing to address the other demands in A315: our pension overpayments since 2019, the huge staffing crisis in DWP and the disparity between pay across different Civil Service Departments.
Additionally, the Low Pay Commission expects the minimum wage to rise by 5.8% in April, meaning that in a few months our lowest grades could find themselves back on minimum wage for the third year in a row, with EOs (especially on legacy contracts) being increasingly closer to minimum wage.
This pay award will lead to worse terms and conditions. It is not fully funded: the Civil Service Spending Review budgeted for 2% pay rises from 2021 – 2026, so 3% of the pay rise will need to come from existing departmental budgets. In DWP, this means increased workloads and continued understaffing, less money for recruitment. We are still nowhere near the 120,000 staffing levels the union agreed to campaign for in 2022. And there is little sign of the Group leadership mounting the campaign necessary to tackle this issue. With workplaces up for renewal of leases in the next few years, office closures could also be on the horizon.
Since May, the newly elected NEC majority have been clear that we should utilise our industrial strength to maximise the pay award, with plans drawn up for a serious campaign around pay, pensions, staffing, flexible working, office closures, redundancy and national pay bargaining. The National President (who is also DWP Vice President) has undemocratically blocked every attempt to do this. This has been supported, without exception, by the DWP Group President, also member of the NEC. The National President and General Secretary have blocked every attempt to put pressure on this and the last government including: –
• using our live mandates,
• putting our demands on the Labour Prime Minister and Secretaries of State before the announcement of the Treasury pay remit,
• rejection of the Treasury pay remit immediately as not good enough with clear reiteration of our demands including for 10% and £15 minimum wage.
This failure to push PCS policy means that negotiators at delegated level, including the DWP have entered talks with one hand tied behind their backs.
But, even in this scenario, the PCS DWP Group negotiators must take some responsibility for the particular weaknesses in this offer. The bulletin they put out on the 14th October criticised the NEC majority for the position it has taken on pay. Surely their focus should be about exerting maximum pressure on the employer to improve what was on the table. Unfortunately, bad offers are what happens when a pay remit – 5% or not – is “welcomed” and key issues are not addressed. And especially one that is not fully funded, and can therefore never provide what our members need no matter how you spin it.
Broad Left Network supporters have consistently been arguing for a serious campaign across the union, including in DWP, yet the Group leadership have consistently tried to block any attempt to do so, supported by their counterparts at a national level.
What we need is a serious campaign and we should be demanding national pay bargaining to use the full strength of the union. But all attempts to discuss this gets undemocratic presidential rulings blocking us from launching the campaign required to win. Which is why we support the call for a special delegate conference to make clear that Martin Cavanagh and Fran Heathcote do not run our union – the elected NEC majority do.
Why We Need A Special Delegate Conference
After winning a 19:16 majority on the union’s National Executive Committee the left majority group (coalition for change) has faced repeated obstruction from the President and General Secretary- members of the defeated Left Unity group.
At every meeting of the NEC the President (Martin Cavanagh) has ruled out discussion and decision on proposals/motions put forward by the NEC majority allowing only poor proposals from the General Secretary to be heard.
These two members of the group defeated in the union elections, are now sabotaging the programme of the elected majority. They have: –
• blocked a challenge to the Starmer government 5% pay remit
• blocked action on conference motion A315 calling for a national campaign on pay, jobs, pensions and other issues
• blocked a review of the strike levy and an immediate reduction for low paid members
• blocked NEC discussion of a union staffing review by the General Secretary and her unilateral promotion of her two key allies to new senior management positions with pay increases to match.
We urge branches to call an Extraordinary General Meeting to agree a motion calling for a Special Delegate Conference- https://bln.org.uk/2024/10/13/rebuild-a-fighting-union-support-the-call-for-a-special-delegate-conference/
PCS Broad Left Network 