Our previous articles have laid out the position of the Left Coalition which now forms a majority on PCS’ National Executive Committee. They have also detailed the blocking tactics deployed by the Left Unity General Secretary, up to and including shutting down the 11th of June NEC and refusing to allow the National Disputes Committee to meet.
On the back of this, members and branches, mobilised by the Coalition for Change, wrote to the General Secretary to demand she stops her obstruction and meets with the President and the Deputy President to resolve this. As a result, the NEC finally met on the 7th of July. At that meeting Coalition for Change NEC members allowed the adoption of the General Secretary’s undemocratic standing orders under protest, to enable notice to be served following the historic ballot result in the FCDO and further strike dates to be set to support strikers in Sodexo. The coalition, in which the BLN plays a leading role, put our reps’ and members’ issues first. And on the first morning of the full NEC which met on the 15th/16th July, members of the NEC attended the picket at the FCDO to stand shoulder to shoulder with our striking members. Dave Semple, Deputy president and BLN chair spoke at that picket with other unions reps and MPs.
The NEC majority have been consistent in our approach in that to win on pay, jobs, pensions and other issues that are set out in Motion A375 carried overwhelmingly at our May Conference, we need to build a huge campaign across PCS. And members need to see it – the total lack of Comms coming from PCS and the General Secretary on the NEC decisions to push forward is unacceptable.
In contrast the Democracy Alliance, including the General Secretary, argue that we should accept the pay remit and “welcome” it as a victory of their two years of backroom chats with the Cabinet Office. This is a remit which contains serious detriment to members including: accepting AA staff will be permanently on minimum wage; accepting that a 3.5% pay rise is “good enough” despite rocketing living costs; and accepting that pay in all areas currently calculated on a 41/42 hour working week will instead be calculated on 36/37 hours, meaning a £3300 a year reduction for new AAs in those areas. And accepting it also means no campaign, without achieving any of members’ most important demands on pay, terms and conditions, and job protection.
Democracy Alliance U-Turn
In a remarkable and stunning U-turn, the General Secretary’s office wrote to the Coalition’s Senior Officers in advance of the NEC, to try to align the General Secretary’s paper with the position set out in conference policy in A375 (and previous years), supported by the BLN and the Coalition majority.
Under normal circumstances this would be welcomed, but it begs the question as to why, given she and the rest of the Democracy Alliance shut down the national campaign in 2023. They have then spent the three years since doing all they can to avoid building a national campaign in line with conference policy, including using the undemocratic Standing Orders to block any discussion when the Coalition last had a majority, and cancelling it without even trying in October 2025 when they once again had control. However, the discussion took place, which resulted in an approach both presented and agreed by the NEC. A motion submitted by Deputy President Dave Semple prior to the General Secretary’s paper being drafted was also carried –here This was an important motion as, whilst it was reproduced almost exactly in the eventual General Secretary paper, it additionally set out opposition to the proposed reduction of contractual hours from gross to net, not least because it would leave future AAs £3300 worse off a year.
Astonishingly, Democracy Alliance members stated that the standardisation of contractual hours to 37 per week would be a step towards the long-held PCS demand for national pay bargaining! Whilst we want national pay bargaining, it is not at any cost and certainly not to the detriment of any member, let alone our lowest paid.
Most of the Democracy Alliance NEC minority voted for both the General Secretary’s paper and Dave Semple’s motion, despite both being entirely incompatible with the same old arguments they made in the debate, opposing the position of building for a national campaign on pay, job protection, terms and conditions, pensions, and more. Clearly despite the General Secretary starting to recognise she will at least need to try to recognize deliver what members have demanded, the Democracy Alliance views and intentions have not changed.
Build the Cost-of-Living Campaign
So, having agreed these, the stage is now set for a major Cost-of-Living campaign. Pay claims will be submitted in all groups and bargaining units on the basis of the national pay claim, including a 10% pay rise, for a pay compression framework flex cases which produce an £18 per hour Living Wage, measures to ensure that the Administrative Assistant (AA) grade are on more than the minimum wage, and reflect London Weighting arrangements in addition to the National Living Wage of £5,000 per annum. Motion A375 – here -sets out a set of demands around which the whole union can unite, campaign one and build the support necessary to win.
The General Secretary has agreed, at last, to end the silence surrounding the national campaign and to take the first practical steps towards building that campaign. We must make sure that happens. She has agreed to ensure that branch and members’ bulletins are produced, website articles are published and social media communications will be prepared. She has also agreed to urgently produce an NEC statement, for all members, without delay. She stood for election promising to hold the employers “feet to the fire.” There has been little evidence of that – so the NEC majority must hold her to the agreements she has made. The NEC has also agreed that a full programme of members meetings will be organised, right across our union. Further measures are being developed to give the campaign a wider political profile. These include a speakers’ brief for workplace meetings following the Pay Negotiators’ Forum; a letter to the PCS Parliamentary Group requesting support and the tabling of Early Day Motions; the preparation of Parliamentary Questions; and an examination of whether a parliamentary petition capable of securing a debate can be successfully launched. We are also seeking a meeting with Andy Burnham to advance the union’s case and apply pressure right from the start of his tenure, with the outcome to be reported back to the NEC.
These decisions mark an important advance. After months in which the national campaign existed on paper and little else, the NEC has met and agreed a full programme of activity to build our campaign. We must now ensure the General Secretary implements these agreements and stops blocking the NEC majority from doing what we were elected to do. It would be a serious mistake to confuse an agreement to do something with it actually being done.
Defending Trans+ Members Through Collective Action The NEC also agreed a motion, moved by Fiona Brittle, which set out PCS’ response to attacks on the rights and dignity of Trans+ members following the publication of harmful guidance published by Government People Group. This is here and commits the union to urgently bringing together the National Disputes Committee, PCS Proud and PCS legal to agree urgent advice for reps and to explore the potential of a judicial review, further legal interventions, and a campaign to overturn the Supreme Court ruling. It also commits the union to restoring the PCS Trans Awareness course under the direction of PCS Proud and encouraging widespread PCS participation in Pride events. Earlier versions of this motion had been submitted at every NEC since conference, including instructions to intervene while the Code of Practice underwent Parliamentary scrutiny – but due to the General Secretary’s blocking of the NEC, this instruction was not carried out. Shockingly, PCS therefore did nothing to halt the Code being brought into force.
The motion agreed commits PCS to making clear to negotiators that guidance at delegated level, following the publication of the EHRC guidance, should not be implemented as proposed. It instructs the National Disputes Committee to produce urgent bargaining guidance for branches and groups to resist exclusionary changes to workplace policies and to defend any members affected by attempts to impose them.
This represented a clear political dividing line within the NEC. Democracy Alliance argued instead for an approach centred primarily on legal test cases and surveys, as if members hadn’t been very clear at conference! This approach would in practice mean waiting until our members suffer discrimination rather than acting to prevent it. Democracy Alliance members voted against the motion.
The passing of this motion means that PCS now has a clear strategy which combines legal intervention, industrial bargaining and workplace organisation. The task now is to ensure that these commitments are translated into practical support for branches and reps, and into a determined defence of every Trans+ member facing discrimination at work.
Pensions
The General Secretary’s provided an update on the Capita takeover of MyCSP. This has clearly been a disaster, especially for the thousands of members waiting for payments and for those delaying retirement. The government has now committed to insourcing the pensions scheme and taking it back into public ownership, but how and when remains to be seen. BLN’s amendment that the National Disputes Committee urgently consider the advice of counsel sought by the GS, and determine what other measures can be taken to visibly step up our campaign, to achieve relief for members, was passed unanimously meaning the new NEC majority will look at ramping up the campaign to resolve the crisis and put the money our members are owed in their pockets.
Trade Unions Congress
A delegation to the TUC was agreed, as were motions to the Conference which takes place in September which focus on a coordinated approach to challenging privatisation, austerity, and racism/fascism – here
Build the BLN
We call on all reps who want to build a fighting, democratic union with a socialist programme that could win for members to join with us – to join the Broad Left Network – and unite to build a massive Cost-of-Living campaign.
PCS Broad Left Network 