++ STOP PRESS ++ MoD Pay Update ++

GEC view on pay offer

As you will be aware MoD has today published its pay offer to staff. The offer and an on line calculator is available on the MoD intranet and will also be available shortly via this part of the PCSwebsite: http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/ministry_of_defence_group/ministry_of_defence_group.cfm

Details of the offer

PCS members will note that the offer in many ways represents progress on key pay bargaining priorities for our union and members including:

Shorter pay scales – by 2010, there will be 5 scale points from min to max at E2 and E1; 6 at D – B2 and 7 at B1.
An end to overlapping pay scales between grades.
Significant growth of the pay band minima at E2 – D, with many staff at the bottom receiving an award of over 20%.
Additional pay progression, in 2009 and 2010, for staff with respectively over 8 years and 5 years service in their pay band, worth an additional 3%-6%.
Above inflation awards for many members in year 2 and 3 of the award in particular.
An end to higher starting pay (HSP) and functional recruitment and retention allowances (RRA), to be replaced by a market skills supplement (MSS) agreed with the trade unions.
The creation of a London pay scale and an uplift in London weighting.

There is no doubt that these concessions have been granted by MoD directly as a result of the action, including our legal action, taken by PCS members in MoD over the last few years and also as a result of the active support of members for our long running pay campaign.

However the offer also falls short of our aspirations in a number of areas, including:

The offer does not deliver an above inflation award for all members for each of the three years.
The offer contains proposals to reduce the pay band maxima at E2 and E1 and to introduce a ‘protected pay allowance’ for staff who find themselves at or above the new pay band maxima. We are not in agreement about the operation of the allowance at present.

The department has refused to commit to guaranteeing that progression through the new pay scales is automatic and have stated that progression can only be guaranteed until 2010.
Staff at their pay band maxima (or those who reach it during the period of the offer) will not benefit from the additional 3% progression payments.

The proposal to remove London pay from staff working overseas is totally unacceptable.
We believe that the progression arrangements are still too long in some cases

What happens next?

The department have informed us they intend to pay the first element of the offer (including back pay to August 2008) in February pay packets. Our union is aware that many members will welcome this initial payment. However this does not mean that the offer is being imposed on us or that the pay negotiations are complete.

In light of the PCS national campaign on pay – and following the agreement reached with the Cabinet Office and Treasury - MoD has agreed to continue negotiations with PCS on pay and on 4 key issues specifically. These are:

Further negotiations on MoD proposals for the E2 and E1 max (members will note that these proposals are not due to come into force until 1st May 2009) and therefore are not impacted by the February payment when staff migrate to the new 3% pay scale.
Talks on the 2009 Treasury remit guidance and possible benefits to PCS members.
Talks around the national agreement that PCS has recently secured with the Cabinet Office and Treasury on pay. Specifically, there will be talks to examine if money that MoD has saved through efficiency savings can be used to further improve the pay of PCS members in MoD.
There will be dialogue to assess if MoD and PCS can reach agreement on the equal pay and age discrimination cases that we have lodged at employment tribunal.

A timeline will be published for these talks shortly. If and when we reach an agreement PCS members will be balloted on a final offer from the department. We expect that an updated offer letter will be produced by MoD in due course if and when agreement is reached.

Yours sincerely

Paul Barnsley, group secretary
Chris Dando, group president
KC Jones, vice president

Agreement reached on PCS National Industrial action.

Message to members

PCS reaches agreement with government over pay

We have reached a national agreement with the government over pay. More money will now be released for pay bargaining in individual departments and related public bodies.

The government has also said that there is no 2% pay cap on staff pay increases.

We have been campaigning against the unfair pay limit on public sector pay increases and we have demanded fair pay for PCS members.

Many members have been in dispute with their management over the 2008 pay round.

In September members voted in a national ballot for a programme of industrial action. Strike action was planned for 10 November. We were then told by Sir Gus O’Donnell, head of the civil service, that talks could take place that would address our concerns in this national pay dispute.
Those talks have taken place and the agreement reached. A letter sent by Sir Gus O’Donnell to our general secretary which sets out the terms of the agreement is available on this website and from your local PCS rep.

More money to be made available for pay

The letter says that "efficiency savings" can be put to good use in improving pay. This policy change, involving cutting the use of consultants, for example, should release many millions of pounds. Management have not been able to use this money for pay previously. The letter also says that there is no 2% pay cap on staff pay increases so there is no necessity for people on the maximum of their pay scale to have zero increases.

Campaign continues

The agreement does not mean the end of our campaign for fair pay. It is now necessary for departmental PCS pay bargainers to go to management and talk to them about using this money for staff pay. Where there have been disputes, management must come back to the negotiating table. The agreement must be tested. There will not now be national industrial action organised under the authority of the September ballot. But our national campaign will not end until we are sure that members’ pay has been improved. If necessary, we will step the campaign up again. Members standing together, being prepared to take action, have opened the door to more money. Now we must make sure the agreement produces better pay for members.

Our other demands – on pay progression, regional pay, cutting the number of bargaining units, performance pay and equal pay – will be taken up in a process of discussions in the coming months.

Joint action with other unions

We have been working with other public sector unions to campaign against the pay cap. We have said that joint action is the best way to oppose an unfair government policy. But, in the absence of that joint action, and at a time of economic recession, the agreement we have reached is an important one. This is the first time in many years that we have achieved a national agreement on pay issues in the civil service and related areas.

Breakthrough

Since 2004 we have protected pensions, won agreements on avoiding compulsory redundancies and on privatisation, and stopped attacks on sick pay. Members should feel proud that we have now made this breakthrough on pay.

Mark Serwotka, General Secretary

Janice Godrich, President

Please see the text below on the PCS website.

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/campaigns/national-pay-campaign/pay-campaign--members-briefing/ )

A Pay Update from MoD Group

Ministry of Defence

To: All Members
MoD GEC
MoD/MB/57/08

26th November 2008


Dear Colleagues,

MoD Pay - Update Number 5

Members may have seen the Civilian Pay Update that has recently been issued by MoD.

The text of this statement, which has been agreed with PCS, states "Informal pay talks with the Non Industrial Trade Unions continue. Management propose to put a formal offer to the unions very shortly with the aim of the pay award being in pay packets early next year. In parallel, talks are being held at national level following the suspension of the PCS civil service-wide action. The pay award will not be further delayed because of the national talks but any changes required to the award as a result of the national negotiations will be considered and if agreed put in place afterwards."

Members will wish to note that the PCS talks with the Treasury and the Cabinet Office are ongoing; we do not know yet whether an agreement is possible. A special meeting of the PCS national executive committee (NEC) had been planned for Thursday 27 November. This will now take place on Monday 1 December. This is to allow the talks to be completed.

Every effort is being made to progress the talks to a successful conclusion. But we do not yet know whether an agreement will be reached. Therefore, members must stand ready to take industrial action and retain strike and other campaign materials in case they are needed.

We must also continue to make our case for fair pay to employers, politicians and the public.

In MoD we have made clear to management that we will require a clause in the pay offer that re-opens the talks if there is something tangible from the national talks. We will however continue to talk to MoD management on pay and to make progress with the Department to ensure that the 2008 pay award is paid to PCS members as quickly as possible. There will be an emergency meeting of the PCS MoD group executive committee (GEC) as soon as we receive a formal offer and further information on this offer will be circulated to members as soon as possible.

A further update on pay will be issued to members next week.

Yours sincerely



Paul Barnsley
Group Secretary

National Action Suspended – Information for MoD Members

To: All Members (1:10) MoD/MB/55/08
cc: Group Executive Committee


Dear Colleagues,

National Action Suspended – Information for MoD Members

As you will be aware by now the NEC met on 7 November and decided to suspend the national strike planned for Monday 10 November and the overtime ban proposed to follow it. National officers will now enter into formal talks with the government.

The NEC made this decision because of the letter received from Sir Gus O’Donnell, Head of the Civil Service, which agreed that discussions should take place to address the concerns that form the basis of this national pay dispute and that the period during which the union could legally take industrial action would be extended by 28 days.

It is important that all MoD members realise that the programme of action which members voted for in the national ballot has not been cancelled: we have agreed not to take any action while talks are taking place to find a solution to the dispute. We have always said we would try and get a negotiated settlement if at all possible.

We would like to thank all members and reps who worked hard to prepare for the action on the 10 November and for your continuing support. In the MoD Group, the GEC set up a sub-committee that contacted all branches prior to the day of action to offer help and support. Had the action gone ahead, we know that we would have had a record number of picket lines at MoD sites with a record number of pickets on duty and attending the rallies up and down the country.

There is little doubt that senior MoD were aware of this and would have reported this back to the Cabinet office. We have absolutely no doubt that the strength of feeling shown in the MoD has been replicated across all groups and this will have heavily influenced Gus O’Donnell to write to our union agreeing that discussions should take place to address the concerns that form the basis of this dispute

By simply voting for and preparing to take action on 10 November, members in the MoD have now alongside all PCS members put in place a negotiating process that we hope will lead to an acceptable settlement. It remains to be seen whether enough progress will be made to form the basis of an acceptable settlement. If not, we must stand ready to take action.

In the build up to any industrial action there is always a higher than average rise in those who wish to join and those who wish to leave our union. This happened again in the lead up to November 10. We are delighted to say, however, that membership density in the MoD group has once again increased in the lead up to 10 November as it did prior to the days of action in 2007.

We welcome any new members to our union as the more members we have increases our bargaining power with the employer. You have joined the fastest growing union in the country and a union that is now consistently delivering for its members.

For those of you who have chosen to resign your membership, that of course is your democratic right and we respect that. However, we would ask that you reconsider. As stated above, the best possible chance we have of success is to have the highest possible membership density. The reality is that once again our intention to stand together in solidarity has caused the government to sit up and take notice.

Whatever the outcome of the talks, our union applied the pressure that brought them about. Every other avenue had been exhausted and as always the decision to move to action was a last resort but hopefully members who thought that industrial action or has happened on this occasion (as it happened when we protected our pensions), the threat of industrial action does not deliver will think again.

Nobody in the MoD group can afford to lose a day’s pay, but conversely and more importantly we believe nobody in the MoD group can afford to submissively accept below inflation pay offers that in reality are pay cuts for our already poorly paid members.

The ‘credit crunch’ we find ourselves in at present is not the fault of civil servants. The situation has been brought about by the banks that gambled with customer’s funds and have been bailed out of their mess with £500 billion of taxpayer’s money. £500 billion that the government apparently didn’t have! It will cost only £300 million to resolve the progression issue and bring every single servant into line with every other public sector worker.

We are not asking for special favours, we only want fairness. It is not unreasonable for our members – many of whom are among the lowest paid workers in the UK – to want to protect their living standards, particularly in these times of economic uncertainty. Our demands in the current national pay campaign are listed again below
· Consolidated basic pay increases at least equal to the retail price index
· Remove pay progression costs from budgets for increases
· Fewer separate pay negotiations
· Funding to remedy equal pay problems
· No link between pay and performance appraisal
· An end to pressure for regional pay
Finally, there may be cases where members did not attend work in the MOD on November 10 because it had not been possible to notify them that the strike was suspended. Where management are unsympathetic to such instances, please contact your local rep who will raise it up to the MOD group office so that the issue can be raised with the Cabinet Office.



Chris Dando
MoD Group President

Paul Barnsley
MoD Group Secretary

We will remember them...

Suspension of Industrial Action

Members have asked me to clarify the reason that the strike scheduled for today has been called off. Essentially, PCS asked the government to engage in constructive talks over pay in order to avoid strike action. At the eleventh hour, Sir Gus O'Donnell agreed to the unions demand and hence the strike is suspended pending talks for 28 days whilst talks can take place. The following has been circulated to all branchs and published on the PCS website (further information will be published as it comes available) .

The following message is on the PCS website:

PCS suspends national industrial action

The PCS national executive committee met this morning and following their receipt of a letter from Sir Gus O'Donnell, head of the home civil service, have decided to suspend the industrial action planned from Monday 10 November and the overtime ban proposed to commence on Tuesday 11 November.
Further information will be issued on Monday via the website.

The letter from the Head of the Civil Service follows

Mark Serwotka, general secretary
7 November 2008,
Mark,

Following the constructive discussions between yourselves and my officials, I am writing to confirm that I am prepared to agree, pursuant to Section 234(1) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, to a 28 day extension to the limitation of your current mandate for initiating industrial action. This will extend the period of validity to midnight on 11 December 2008, allowing your colleagues and officials to take forward discussions to address the concerns that form the basis of your current dispute.

Sir Gus O'Donnell, KCB
Secretary of the Cabinet and Head of the Home Civil Service

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/ministry_of_defence_group/ministry_of_defence_group.cfm

Strike Action Suspended.

The planned strike for Monday 10th November 2008 has been suspended.

More information to follow.

A message from PCS General Secretary & President

Dear colleague,

We are writing to urge you to support the one day national strike on November 10.

It is always a hard decision to take industrial action, especially when money is tight. But PCS members would lose much more in the coming years unless we stand together now for fair pay.

We have been campaigning, alongside other unions, against an unfair government pay policy that caps pay deals below the level of inflation.

Importantly, we are also trying to end the double disadvantage for PCS members. For most of us, unlike the rest of the public sector such as Education and Health, progression up pay scales is funded from within annual pay settlement budgets. This makes the situation worse because there is even less money for basic pay. This unfairness must stop.

An agreement on these issues is achievable. Our demands can easily be afforded. Fair funding of progression would only cost approximately £300 million, about 2% of the total national paybill. That’s a drop in the ocean compared to the billions spent bailing out City bankers, the millions wasted on consultants, and the millions spent on five figure bonuses for the most senior civil servants.

We are making every effort to talk to Ministers and senior officials to find a solution to the dispute. The more united and determined we are on November 10, the greater the pressure on the employer to sit down with us and work out an agreement. The one day strike will be followed by a national overtime ban. If necessary our campaign will continue.

Since 2004 we have protected pensions, won agreements on avoiding compulsory redundancies and on privatisation, and stopped attacks on sick pay. By acting together we’ve shown campaigning works. We now need to stand together on pay.


Mark Serwotka General Secretary
Janice Goodrich President

Forty Acres: a poem for Barack Obama from Nobel winner Derek Walcott

Out of the turmoil emerges one emblem, an engraving —

a young Negro at dawn in straw hat and overalls,

an emblem of impossible prophecy, a crowd

dividing like the furrow which a mule has ploughed,

parting for their president: a field of snow-flecked

cotton forty acres wide, of crows with predictable omens

that the young ploughman ignores for his unforgotten

cotton-haired ancestors, while lined on one branch, is

a tense court of bespectacled owls and, on the field's

receding rim — a gesticulating scarecrow stamping with rage at him.

The small plough continues on this lined page

beyond the moaning ground, the lynching tree, the tornado's

black vengeance, and the young ploughman feels the change in his veins,

heart, muscles, tendons,

till the land lies open like a flag as dawn's sure

light streaks the field and furrows wait for the sower.

(As published today -

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5088429.ece)

Great News - Staff in MoD Receive a Pay Award in 2008!!!

Now for the bad news.... if you are one of the 1.496 staff in the MOD who got the rise, you did so because without this increase the MOD would have been paying less than the minimum wage and breaking the law.

In the meantime, after 6 years of imposed deals, which in the last two years have meant a real terms pay cut for half our staff, we are waiting yet again for negotiations to start on our pay increase.

At the same time we work alongside service personnel who have had their increment on their pay scale, their cost of living increase, and an increase in their X factor.

Not surprisingly therefore, with great reluctance, members have taken a democratic decision to go on strike on 10th November and I hope that you will all support this action. When you are in trouble you expect the union to be there for you. Well, it’s a two way pact. The union, or rather its members, are expecting you to be there, or rather away from work and not here, on November 10th.

Unfair, discriminatory, low pay systems are bad for us, bad for the MOD and bad for the country. We have waited long enough. Please support the action on November 10th. If you are not only prepared to be on strike but can help us on the picket line, then please let me know.

Ian Melvin

VA(NB)PCS Secretary

Ext 69081

Mod Pay 2008 Update from PCS MOD Group

To: All Members (1:10)

PCS Pay Update Number 3 – October 2008

Dear Colleagues

MOD PAY – DELAYED UNTIL 2009!!

The Department has confirmed that our pay award will not be paid until 2009!! The cat was let out of the bag in the MoD ’60 second digest’ where MoD stated that they have made “progress” meaning the pay award might be paid in “early” 2009. How this represents “progress” was not made clear.

The causes of the delay are clear – MoD incompetence and the disgraceful public sector pay restraint policy imposed by the Government. Hundreds of PCS members have already contacted their union to make clear their anger at this appalling news – and their determination to do something about it.

At a time of rising prices (inflation has hit 5.2%, while food, utility bills and fuel are increasing by over 10%) the stark reality is that many of us are struggling to make ends meet. Ministers and the senior mandarins responsible for this disgraceful delay should hang their heads in shame and offer to compensate members affected by the delay (but won’t).

The MoD role in delaying your pay
The MoD remains wedded to bureaucratic methods of putting together its business case on pay, without the resources to deliver. Our union has consistently warned that the department pay timetable was in reality a fiction and that timescales were slipping badly.

The Department has also dithered for far too long over the content of the business case – despite our union submitting our pay claim 6 months ago and making it clear what staff want from the 2008 pay award.

The Treasury role in delaying your pay
However, the bulk of the blame for the delay in our pay award should be laid at the door of the Treasury.

A key delaying factor has been the Government policy of limiting public sector pay increases to well below the rate of inflation. Gordon Brown intends to apply this policy for 2009 and 2010 too – and wants to force department to impose 3 year below inflation awards on all civil servants.

The Treasury insist on strictly monitoring all pay offers. In MoD they have insisted on agreeing the award with the Department in advance of any meetings with our union. They have instructed MoD that the pay award cannot be altered without their permission. The Treasury require any pay offer to be worth less than the rate of inflation, making nonsense of the concept of genuine negotiations between management and our union reps.

What is PCS doing about it?
We are making clear the anger of members at the highest levels of the Department and we continue to make this point at every opportunity.

PCS is seeking national solutions on pay, and meetings with the Cabinet Office, Treasury and Ministers are taking place. As you know we have sent ballot papers to all members on action over pay across the Civil Service and public sector organisations – we urge every member to vote to take action.

Finally, we have signalled to MoD management that our union will co-operate and do whatever necessary to expedite proceedings. What this could mean will be become clear over the next period, but we want every member to know that we will do whatever we can to get the final award into pay packets.

What can I do about it?
It is clear that MoD senior management have been stunned by the level of anger of our members at this unacceptable delay. We need to continue to make our voice heard. If Gordon Brown can find £500 Billion of our money to bail out the bankers and the City fat cats then he can afford to pay us fairly! Support the campaign:

1. Write to the Secretary of State John Hutton protesting about low pay and job security. His address and some helpful facts about MPs pay are available on our website www.pcs.org.uk (click on where you work and then MoD).
2. Vote yes in the Ballot on action on pay and attend any meetings called by your branch to update on our dispute
3. Support the forthcoming action called by our union – it’s time to say no to low pay and unfair pay across MoD. 20,000 staff earn less than an £8 per hour, and on 1 October 1,496 MoD staff woke up to find that they were once again earning the National Minimum Wage!
4. Talk to your friends and colleagues and ask them to join PCS – the more members we have, the stronger we become and the more MoD has to negotiate with us to achieve fair pay. Application forms are available on our website or from your local representative.
5. Get active – we need more distributors and people to help us win on pay and job security.

Yours sincerely


Paul Barnsley Group Secretary
Chrias dando Group President
K C Jones Vice President

Black Hawk Down

If you’ll permit me I need to preface this piece with a few remarks and riders.

Firstly I make no apologies for taking time here to pay my regards to two American servicemen. We have many heroes of our own I know, I have been lucky enough to meet one or two during the course of my career. As time goes by I will pay homage, in the magazine and on the blog, to as many of them as I can, and as their ‘anniversaries’ come up.

Whatever your views about these two servicemen, and US foreign policy you’ll notice that however badly a military operation is conceived and planned, and however dubious you may feel the intent is, the outcomes are so often the same. Ordinary men and women, doing the duty, looking after their comrades and so often dying doing it.

In 1992 the United Nations supported by U.S. armed forces had arrived in Somalia in a joint operation known as Operation Restore Hope. The intention was to restore order in a country destroyed by civil war and brought to its knees by famine. Despite an initial agreement of a ceasefire 24 Pakistani UN troops were killed in an ambush in an area controlled by Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The UN Security Council called for the arrest and trial of those responsible, issuing resolution 837. Then in July 1993 a 20 minute US helicopter attack killed 73 Clan elders and not the militia who were the intended target. So by the time of Operation Gothic Serpent (of which The Battle of Mogadishu was part) Mogadishu was at boiling point and US popularity at an all time low. Six months and 48000 tons of food and medical aid had not helped the situation, half a million Somalis were dead and three times that number displaced, and it was felt that drastic action was needed.

The plan for this stage of Operation Gothic Serpent was simple enough, fly in, arrest key members of the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid’s regime and get out in a road convoy. As we know, it went horribly wrong, leaving 18 American servicemen dead and 73 wounded, whilst casualties amongst the Somalis were hard to estimate. Combined figures for civilians and armed militia range from around 1000-3000 dead to twice or even three times that number wounded. These figures themselves have brought questions about a lack of restraint by US forces, on the other hand the killing of the UN troops, and alleged abuses of the bodies of the dead and wounded were fresh in the mind. Whilst the US forces were better armed and extremely well trained, the Somali militia in the area numbered in the thousands.

Everybody has an opinion about this and it is not my intention the challenge any of those. Nor is it my intention to make any judgements as to the rights and wrongs of the operation. All I can do is offer my sympathies to the families of all of those that died in Mogadishu.


Randall Shughart and Gary Gordon

The real purpose of this piece is to pay tribute to two extraordinarily brave men.

Sergeant First Class Randal Shughart and Master Sergeant Gary Gordon both lost their lives on October 3rd 1993 protecting the lives of the crew of Black Hawk helicopter Super Six Four commanded by Mike Durant.
Super Six Four had been shot down by a rocket propelled grenade, Shughart and Gordon were in another Black Hawk, Super Six Two commanded by Mike Goffena, which had taken up a holding pattern above the crash site.

From this position Shughart and Gordon were providing suppressive fire and sniper cover. It soon became clear that despite the fact that militia men in their hundreds were converging on the crash site no ground rescue was imminent. Shughart and Gordon repeatedly requested permission to be dropped near Six Four’s crash site in order to provide protection from the ground. The first two requests were rejected but finally granted on the third request, the pilot of Blackhawk Super 62, Mike Goffena set them down about 100 metres from the crash site. From there they fought their way past shacks and through narrow passage ways, under constant fire and with the numbers of militia growing steadily.

The accounts of exactly was happened next vary from teller to teller but they all agree that Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon showed uncommon bravery and devotion as they tried to protect the pilot and crew of Super Six Four. In a fire fight that followed Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon patrolled the perimeter of the crash site repelling hundreds of armed gunmen, and putting themselves in grave danger.

Make no mistake here, whilst many of the hundreds of armed Somalis converging on the crash site were effectively untrained civilians they were, mostly, well armed with automatic weapons and not short of shooting experience. And amongst their number were well organised bands of local militia. Additionally many were furiously angry over the death of their clan leaders and with what they saw as an occupying force. Shughart and Gordon could have opted to stay in the Black Hawk and used it’s Miniguns to indiscriminately spray the entire area with bullets, but they didn’t.

Finally Gary was killed. It is not absolutely clear which man died first, and I don’t suppose it matters much now, but to continue this version of events, following Gary’s death Randy returned to Mike Durant, now the only survivor of Super Six Four, giving him Gary’s weapon before returning to patrol the area. Very shortly afterwards, his ammunition depleted, Randy was shot and fatally wounded.

Having attacked the bodies of the fallen with knives, machetes, stones and various other weapons the militia descended upon pilot Mike Durant, fiercely beating him before being told to stop by a local militia leader, arriving at the scene, who claimed him as a prisoner.

The time that Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon had bought Mike Durant had saved his life. No one will ever know exactly what went through their minds when they volunteered to protect Super Six Four from the ground. But they were above the area at the time and could clearly see the numbers of armed persons that they would be facing and that were converging on the crash site from every angle. Whilst you couldn’t say the action was a forlorn hope it was certainly close to one. They must have known that their chances if survival were small. But they didn’t hesitate to step in.

In recognition of the extreme heroism and devotion to duty Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon were posthumously awarded the US’ highest award, the Medal of Honor.

Please take a moment to read the citations on the official web site here;

http://www.medalofhonor.com/Somalia.htm

Of the two men the surviving pilot Mike Durant said -

"Without a doubt, I owe my life to these two men and their bravery.” “Those guys came in when they had to know it was a losing battle," "There was nobody else left to back them up. If they had not come in, I wouldn't have survived.”


The true way to mourn the dead is to take care of the living who belong to them.
- Edmund Burke

National Pay Ballot - Letter responding to Gus & Bill

26 September 2008

To: All Members (1:10) MoD/MB/41/08
cc: Group Executive Committee


Dear Colleagues,

National pay ballot – Letters from PUS and Cabinet Office Secretary

Many members will have been sickened (but unfortunately not surprised) to have received letters from our Permanent under Secretary, Sir Bill Jeffrey and the Cabinet Office Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell regarding the current PCS national pay ballot. Although they fall short of asking members not to support our union’s call for action, they also fall short of offering any solution to the problems we face.

Sir Bill and Sir Gus both have warm words about the contribution and value of civil servants to defence. Unfortunately, though no doubt genuinely meant, these offer little comfort to members struggling to make ends meet and often working two or three jobs to provide for their family.

Our leaders fail to understand that pay offers which fail to keep pace with inflation, let alone basic food and utility bills, do not indicate to staff that they are valued. And our pay claim is hardly demanding film star wages, or even film extra wages!

Sir Bill recognises that our pay implementation date is now long gone, but fails to recognise that delaying any award until 2009 will have serious consequences for staff who face rising bills and hard choices now.

Sir Gus believes that civil servants continue to enjoy terms and conditions which provide a substantial level of security both in work and retirement. He forgets to add that these were only secured and defended by concerted action from the trade unions and that further threats to both job security and pensions are on the horizon.
The streamlining and PACE proposals will see a further 10,000 jobs lost within the MOD over the next three years (on top of 13,000 lost in the last three years), with the Public Value Programme to be announced in November threatening thousands more. Meanwhile Sir Gus’s own Cabinet Office proposes ending the current civil service redundancy scheme to save money!

Both Sir Bill and Sir Gus believe that now is not the right time to take industrial action, with negotiations about to commence. However both know that the hands of their negotiators are tied by the Treasury, who will not allow the MOD to offer any pay increase that exceeds their 2% pay cap.

However, we recognise that calling for industrial action is a last resort. We have been campaigning and lobbying for fair pay. We want a negotiated settlement, as we understand the consequences of taking action on support to the front line. But talks, which have been ongoing since February, have so far not produced a positive response.

In his speech to the Labour party conference, Gordon Brown said his job would be worthwhile if it helped one person, one family or one community. He now has an opportunity to put these fine words into practice.

The government must recognise the damage that their unfair pay cap is causing to millions of hard working public servants, their families and their communities. Having found the money to bail out reckless financial institutions and city speculators, he must now relax his unfair rules on civil service pay to avoid an industrial dispute that no-one wants.

Unlike Sir Bill and Sir Gus, we believe that members understand that by negotiating, campaigning and taking action only where necessary we have defended our pensions, our sick pay arrangements and our job security. Now we need to do the same on pay, by voting YES in the ballot.

Chris Dando MoD group president

Dougie Brownlie MoD communications officer

Minister Blames Troops for JPA Failures!

Some while ago I wrote to Joan Humble MP to ask if the Government will be applying Service Level Failure charges against Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in connection with the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system. Joan forwarded the question to the Minister and I received a reply from Rt Hon Bob Ainsworth MP (as Duty Minister).

Bob tells me that "MOD investigates every Service Level Failure and judges whether EDS are in part or wholly responsible. If EDS is partly or wholly responsible, the Service Pensions and Veterans Agency applies all the available contract options to ensure the MOD achieves the appropriate recompense."

Unfortunately he goes on to say that, "MOD's contracts with EDS do not carry financial penalties," which seems bizarre in the least but, "they do contain provisions linking payment to performance in order to ensure value for money." However, and despite this, "disclosure of whether or not MOD has exercised its contractual rights under these provisions could prejudice the MOD's on-going commercial relationship with its contractors."

So, what he is saying is that whilst there have been service failures, and there are provisions in the contracts to deal with these, he isn't going to say so or enforce the contract because it might upset our suppliers? Astonishing, but wait, who does the Minister think is to blame for the failures? Well, Bob puts the blame squarely on our troops as he says, "when failures in service delivery relating to pay or allowances do occur, there can be a variety of causes including incorrect or late inputs to the JPA system by individuals and/or their support staff. However, as personnel become more familiar with the system, we expect problems to decrease."

PCS Pay Petition

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/campaigns/pay-campaign/pay-petition.cfm

Farewell Richard Wright

So the world said goodbye to Richard Wright who died yesterday at the age of 65 following a short struggle with cancer.

Rather than comment myself I will simply quote David Gilmour, from his website (http://www.davidgilmour.com/index.htm), as I think you will agree he has said it all.

In the welter of arguments about who or what was Pink Floyd, Rick's enormous input was frequently forgotten.He was gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognised Pink Floyd sound.

I have never played with anyone quite like him. The blend of his and my voices and our musical telepathy reached their first major flowering in 1971 on 'Echoes'. In my view all the greatest PF moments are the ones where he is in full flow. After all, without 'Us and Them' and 'The Great Gig In The Sky', both of which he wrote, what would 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' have been? Without his quiet touch the Album 'Wish You Were Here' would not quite have worked.In our middle years, for many reasons he lost his way for a while, but in the early Nineties, with 'The Division Bell', his vitality, spark and humour returned to him and then the audience reaction to his appearances on my tour in 2006 was hugely uplifting and it's a mark of his modesty that those standing ovations came as a huge surprise to him, (though not to the rest of us).Like Rick, I don't find it easy to express my feelings in words, but I loved him and will miss him enormously.

David GilmourMonday 15th September 2008

Mod Pay 2008 Update & National Pay Campaign

PCS Mod Pay Update & National Pay Campaign Meeting – Wednesday 24th Sept. 10:30, Room 6201A Tomlinson House.

Members are advised that PCS are holding a meeting to discuss Mod Pay 2008 and the National Pay Campaign in the conference room, 6201A at 10:30 on Wednesday 24th September 2008. Facility time of one hour has been allowed by management for all members to attend this meeting.

Dougie Brownlie from Mod Group will be on hand to give members the latest update on pay 2008 and will detail the national pay campaign.

The PCS national pay campaign is critical. PCS are calling for:

A cost of living award in line with inflation
Reform of the Treasury Remit Guidance so that progression is funded in the same way as the rest of the public sector i.e. outside of the pay cap.

This is because the inadequacy of MoD pay directly arises from Government policy of limiting public sector pay increases to well below the rate of inflation. This pay restraint policy also applies for 2009 and 2010. The Treasury are strictly monitoring all pay offers, agreeing the award with Departments in advance of any meetings with the unions, and are insisting that they cannot be altered without their permission.

The Treasury require any pay offer to be worth less than the rate of inflation, making nonsense of the concept of genuine negotiations between management and unions.

This approach punishes all of the public sector, but in fact is particularly bad for the Civil Service and related bodies. In our case the overall increase allowed by the Treasury includes the cost of funding pay progression, whilst for the rest of the public sector pay progression is resourced from outside the pay cap. This is inherently unfair and reform of the Treasury Remit Guidance is at the heart of the national campaign.

I hope to see many of you there.
Yours fraternally
Ian Melvin
VA(NB)PCS Secretary

National Industrial Action Ballot

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS)has announced that it will be balloting 270,000 members across civil and public services on a programme of national industrial action over the government's policy to cap public sector pay to below inflation.

Anger has grown over the government’s policy which is disproportionately hitting some of the lowest paid in the public sector and has already led to a number of pay strikes by coastguards, immigration officers, passport staff, driving examiners and jobcentre staff.

This year has also seen PCS members co-ordinating their industrial action over pay with other public sector unions, including NUT, UCU and Unison.

In the strike ballot running from 24 September to 17 October, members will be asked to back plans for a national civil service wide strike followed by a rolling programme of targeted industrial action that will extend into the new year.

The union will also step up its work with other unions in co-ordinating campaigning and industrial action where appropriate.

With a quarter of the civil service earning less than £16,500 and thousands earning just above the minimum wage, the government’s policy of capping public sector pay has hit some of the lowest paid in the public sector the hardest and led to pay cuts and pay freezes.

Forty percent of staff in the Department for Work and Pensions, which includes Jobcentres will have no pay rise whatsoever this year, 30% of staff in the Identity and Passport Service are in the same situation, whilst coastguard watch assistants received a special pay rise to keep their pay above the minimum wage.

Pay in the civil service is worse than other parts of the public sector because ‘progression’ (moving from the minimum to the maximum of the pay range) is included in the government’s pay cap.

Hence there is less money available to fund basic pay awards.Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said:"The government says it is on the side of hard pressed families, yet compound the financial misery for hundreds of thousands of hard working people by pursuing an unjust pay policy.

The government is out of touch with the people who keep this country running and who deliver the everyday things we take for granted.

Our members have grown increasingly frustrated by the government peddling the myth that they are the causes of inflation when they see their food, fuel and housing costs soar".

"Faced with pay cuts, pay freezes and increasing financial hardship, civil and public servants will not tolerate the government’s approach to pay which is disproportionately hitting some of the lowest paid in the economy".

"There is still a window of opportunity though, for the government to recognise the hardship it is causing, by reviewing its unjust and unfair policy of below inflation pay."

While MOD fiddles fuel burns!

While MOD fiddles with our pay claim our members still have to pay increasing amounts for food and fuel. In todays Independant an article by Mark Steel highlights some of the realities of todays economic climate.

Mark Steel: Don't die of hypothermia until March

Wednesday, 10 September 2008

"The government tells us it wouldn't make sense to impose a one-off tax on the energy companies, as this would be a short-term measure that fails to address the long-term problem. And, to be fair, there's a logic to this. So, a decent compromise that might get round this difficulty would be to impose a tax on the pigs EVERY year, or if that still didn't sort it, every week – or maybe every 25 minutes.

The energy companies have objected that if they have to pay any more tax, they won't have enough money to invest in new projects. That's because the £1.64bn they've paid to shareholders in dividends this year has all gone on investment, hasn't it. The odd chairman may have suggested he was tempted to spend a bit of his money on a treat, such as a packet of biscuits, but then his conscience would return and it would be "invest, invest, invest".

The previous year, when they only paid out £1.38bn in dividends, there was no money for investment at all. And yet, while Macmillan cancer nurses and paraplegic sportsmen are revered for their selfless fighting spirit, how many of us stop to spare a thought for these brave energy executives, as they somehow stretch £1.38bn to last the whole year?"

To read the rest of the article please follow the following link: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mark-steel/mark-steel-dont-die-of-hypothermia-until-march-924459.html

Polls

It would appear that the polling facility available with this blog doesn't work too well for people on DOI machines. Therefore I have removed the poll started last week. Apologies to anyone who tried to use take part but had problems.

National Ballot on Job Security – Protocols

The Branch held a workplace meeting on the 14th August at which Mike Jones from PCS gave the GEC’s position of support for a ‘Yes’ vote in the ongoing ballot over job security.
In brief, there are two related aspects to what has been agreed.
Firstly, greater job security for all those employed in the civil service and related organisations. For the first time we have a formal and binding national agreement between the government and PCS which significantly reduces the risk that any of our members will be forced out of employment.
Any member who is declared surplus but wishes to continue to work in the Civil Service or associated areas will be made an alternative job offer.
Those under threat in one department will take priority when there are vacancies in other departments.
We do not have an absolute guarantee of job security. But the agreement will provide strong protection from compulsory redundancy. PCS remains opposed to any compulsory redundancies and the national executive committee has restated its intention to reconvene and decide on further industrial action should and compulsory redundancy notices be issued.
Secondly: more protection for those whose work is threatened from privatisation or outsourcing.
Now, for the first time, we have national guidance on good practice for dealing with staff where their functions are being outsourced or privatised. Departments will have to consult with PCS and make attempts to avoid transferring staff to a private employer who intends to make them compulsorily redundant. Departments will also have to justify any decision not to consider in-house bids.
Because we now have a formal agreement PCS is entitled to be consulted about how the protocols are being implemented, and we will be fully involved in reviewing their effectiveness.
The details of the Protocols can be found on the PCS website, http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/

VOTE 'YES' FOR JOB SECURITY

PCS Members Meeting, Thursday 14th August at 10:00am, in TOMMIES.

PCS has been campaigning over job security, privatisation, pay and working conditions.
We have reached an important national agreement with the Cabinet Office on stronger protection from compulsory redundancy for our members in the civil service and related organisations.

We have organised a meeting to discuss what the agreement means to you and why you should vote 'YES' for greater job security. All members ballot runs from 6th August to 1st September 2008.

At the meeting there will be an update on your pay, and Mike Jones National Organiser for PCS will be at the meeting to answer any of your questions.

Facility time has been applied for.

Update on non-industrial performance related pay

We are pleased to confirm that the Department has received authorisation from the Treasury to pay the performance awards (the bonus) for 2008.

The payment will be made with August salaries, providing that Award decisions have been inputted to HRMS. Members should therefore ensure that their performance award outcome is recorded on HRMS.

All those in receipt of a Performance Award will also receive the additional £100 one-off payment.

Values of the awards will be included in a desk circular in the following days.

Apologies

Apologies for the lack of activity on the blog over the recent weeks. There has been so much stuff worthy of comment that I've been in the throws of some sort of apoplexic siezure blog wise. Hopefully there will be plenty of updates over the course of next week.
Please feel free to use the comment facility to request information/comment/policy on pertinent issues.

THE LAST WORD…on MoD, plod, God and turning the sod

(Note that the views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily correspond to the views or offical position of the branch or the national union.)

I’ve just got back from a week on the Isle of Mull. If Mull isn’t the most beautiful place on God’s earth, then I don’t know what is. Actually, it’s not really God’s work, it’s volcanoes and ice erosion, but you get what I mean. While there, we made the trip over to Iona, set in a beautiful turquoise sea with white sand beaches. John Smith is buried in the graveyard there, along with socialism. The earth in the graveyard looks uneven and disturbed, presumably from the effect of Mr Smith turning in his grave. The graveyard, needless to say, has a view to die for.

News that may have passed you by is that the military working dogs in Afghanistan and Iraq are to get state of the art air- conditioned kennel units at a cost of £1.2 million, according to the MoD website (17 March 2008). That will cheer up the fighting force no end. I wonder how much body armour £1.2 million buys? But then the Brits have always though more of animals than people; the NSPCC, for example, takes in less per year in donations than the Donkey Sanctuary. The fines for cruelty to animals are far higher than fines for assaulting a human – I’m a magistrate, so I should know. You might say that’s because animals can’t answer back or protest, but hypocrites that we are, we still happily eat them or wear their skins on our feet. Go figure.

Anyway, just to cheer you up, and to show that EDS aren’t heartless bastards who don’t look after staff, here is a snippet I dug out from the New York Times archive: ”Electronic Data Systems, the technology-outsourcing company, said Wednesday that it had offered extra retirement benefits to about 12,000 employees in the United States if they would retire early.” (September 13, 2007) See, they are all heart. So when push comes to shove, just remind them of that offer. What’s good enough for Americans is good enough for British workers as well. There’s actually quite on lot on the NYT archive about EDS, and none of it makes particularly edifying reading, though most of it is historical, I have to say. Another way of looking at that, though, would be that the NYT reckons they’ve been shifty for years. Don’t the MoD do any research before buddying up to outside organisations? Mind you, anybody that will pay £1.2 million for kennels is not, perhaps, the most assiduous guardian of the public purse.

It would appear that my comments about the music snippets on the blog, i.e. that PCS officials don’t appear to have listened to any music after 1985, has had no effect whatsoever. (And I doubt that my comment about haircuts has had any effect either.) If you are wondering who suggested the “I wish that they’d sack me” song from Chumbawamba’s latest album “The boy bands have won…” it was me. It’s quite brilliant – best described, I suppose, as anarchist folk music. If you can’t find it, all the lyrics are on http://www.chumba.com/, but don’t try to access the site from work in your lunch break, it would be blocked by the thought police. (You can’t even access The Onion from work – I tried once.) I don’t think that Chumbawamba’s politics exactly chime with the philosophy of the MoD. To quote from their “Same old same old” song on the album, “Lately it seems no-one cares anymore that peace is a place where we rest between wars”. And that song was written 25 years ago. Things don’t change much, do they? Proverbs Ch26 v11 springs to mind. (Don’t go looking for a bible in the PCS office, you’d be wasting your time.)

The latest snippet on the blog (at the time of writing - Blogger), from a Jethro Tull song, should remind you that this great band, who I saw a few weeks back on their 40th anniversary tour, started out at Blackpool Grammar School, and are still going strong; which is more than can be said for Blackpool Grammar School. Jethro Tull took their name from the 18th century agriculturalist who invented the automated seed drill that changed working on the land forever. (Knowledge snippet) Anyway,I note that the MoD police have been sniffing round the PCS office, and that management want the site to be closed to non-members and password protected. Management ought to re-examine Article 10 of the Human Rights Act. Nothing on the blog (or in these articles) is not in the public domain. Or a threat to national security, unless sarcasm is classified as such. Anyway, I wait with bated breath for the knock on the door from MoD plod, or even worse, the heavies from PCS asking for subs.

Finally, has anyone else noticed that when one of those speed devices is at the side of the road – one of those that tells you the speed you are travelling at – everyone drives by at 29mph? I don’t. I always try to do 31 or 32mph. Listening to Chumbawamba does that – makes you rebellious.

PCS MoD Pay Claim 2008

Colleagues,

PCS MoD PAY CLAIM 2008 - MEMBERS MEETING
Thursday 26th June 2008
10:00 to 11:00am in TOMMIES

Members are advised that we have a pay meeting planned for 26th June. Dougie Brownlie, SPVA TUS Chair and GEC member will be present to outline the 2008 Pay Claim and will answer any questions you might have on the subject. One hours facility time has been given for you to attend this meeting.

Please read the literature linked to below, Annex 1 – A draft cover letter to the Personnel Director on pay Annex 2 – The draft PCS MoD

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/ministry_of_defence_group/june-2008-documents/pay-update-annexes.cfm

Pay Claim for 2008 Annex 3 – An explanatory annex that would be appended to the Pay Claim. Annex 4 – The PCS Pay Claim – Key Issues for discussion document


Finally, please note that the intention is to ballot all members on the pay claim in due course so this meeting is your opportunity to discuss pay with a member of the GEC.

PCS MoD Pay Claim

Members are advised that PCS MoD Group have agreed that one of their priorities on pay in 2008 is to consult all members on our draft pay claim for 2008 in order to ensure that it best meets our aspirations and concerns.

From the link below you will find:

Annex 1 – A draft cover letter to the Personnel Director on pay Annex 2 – The draft PCS MoD Pay Claim for 2008 Annex 3 – An explanatory annex that would be appended to the Pay Claim. Annex 4 – The PCS Pay Claim – Key Issues for discussion document

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/ministry_of_defence_group/june-2008-documents/pay-update-annexes.cfm

Group are asking all Branches to undertake 2 simple tasks:

1. Circulate the draft pay claim and supporting materials to all members (of which this forms part).2. Hold a meeting - to which all members are invited to discuss our pay claim and to feed members views back to group (to be announced).

If you have views on the Key Issues contained in Annex 4, it would be useful if you could make these known ahead of the meeting in writing to the Branch Secretary, Ian Melvin by email or to room 6117, Norcross.

THAT’S THE ATTITUDE

As members will be aware, the union has for some time been trying to obtain the results of the SPVA Staff Survey, not least because we had reasons to believe it contained evidence of serious and ongoing health & safety issues. I can now report that we were given sight of the data on the afternoon of the 4th of June, too short a period to do any form of in-depth analysis, and so this represents our first impression of the findings.

First, it must be made clear that though the TU side were not at all happy about the form, method and content of the survey questions from the outset, we will still analyse the results in what we consider to be a professional, fair and balanced way. To that end, we will begin with some the most significant positives to be gleaned from them.

Over 82% of all staff, civilian, military and EDS are proud that their work supports the Armed Forces and Veterans.
Similarly, over 80% of all staff feel they are treated with fairness and respect from their colleagues, and;
Over 80% of all staff feel they are treated with fairness and respect by their line managers.
In addition, over 80% of all staff feel they are offered the opportunity to work flexibly where their jobs allow.

We are pleased to see that staff and line managers work in an environment of mutual fairness and respect, where they are proud to support the customer, and where family friendly policies, hard won by the unions over the years, allow staff the opportunity to adjust their work life balance by working flexibly.

Now to the negatives, and we will begin with a brief look at the results appertaining to AFPAA/VA merger.

On average only about a quarter of staff believe that people in SPVA are responding positively to the merger.
And even less believe that senior management have communicated openly and honestly about the changes associated with the merger.
Significantly less than 20% of all staff feel that senior management is capitalising on the opportunities offered by the merger to improve the way SPVA operates. But as only 25% of senior management think so themselves, this is hardly a surprising finding, if still worrying!

These results indicate to us that the merger has been less than effective. Perhaps contributing to those feelings indicated are the fact that:

Only about a third of all staff believes that communications within SPVA are effective, though 65% of senior management believe otherwise?
With only around 30% believing everyone in SPVA is working towards a common goal, the oft sang hymn on ‘partnership’ seems to be little off key, if not downright flat!
That only around 20% of staff thinks that people in SPVA rarely look for someone to blame when things go wrong, indicates a prevalent blame culture,
And even less believe that changes to business processes and/or technology are well managed within SPVA, despite the evident focus of persons and resources that have been toiling on this area for many a moon.

These results indicate that despite ours being a process driven, technology supported business, at its heart SPVA senior management is poor at managing and implementing change, quick to blame personnel for failings arising from poor management and just plain wrong in their fundamental understanding about how to communicate almost anything of importance to their staff. We believe management’s continual failure to engage in real and meaningful consultation with the TU side is a symptom of this attitude.

But overriding all those concerns we must now direct our attention to the most significant results of the survey overall.

· 7.5% of all staff say they have been the victim of bullying or harassment within the last twelve months, a figure that suggests that staff numbered in excess of a hundred are experiencing unacceptable behaviours from some persons around them, and possibly linked to this is;
· That 25% of all staff say that stress at work has affected their health in the last 12 months. This means that there are many hundreds of people in this organisation whose quality of life and indeed life expectancy is being directly affected by what is happening in the workplace.

Given the results previously discussed, it seems evident that the sources of the reported bullying, harassment and indeed stress do not in most cases originate from colleagues, line managers or indeed the clients we support. No, the root cause underlying this alarming data is clearly a blame culture that seeks to distract and disguise from, let’s face it, poor management, inadequate communications and tense partner/supplier relationships. The making of scapegoats, be they individuals or groups, has not been a recommended management tool since Roman times and the bad old days of the Decimation. We firmly believe the results of this survey clearly indicates there needs to be a sea change in the management style of SPVA.

Our hopes have been raised in that we are told that DCSC-MS-AD, absolutely welcomes TUS contribution in the development of meaningful action plans and seeks to ensure that effective consultation follows the publication of the survey results. We will keep members informed of this progress, and will offer further detailed analysis of the findings as time allows.

Shut it!

We’ve been under sustained pressure from management side for some time now to restrict our Blogging activities. The worst of which was a visit from a MoD Police Officer, working for our security, who had come to our office to warn us about our activities. The actions breached all Mod and Cabinet Office rules on dealing with such issues. What seems to have caused particular ranker was our article about the agency failing one of it’s key ministerial targets. More specifically EDS failing a key ministerial target with JPA. Now there is no suggestion that we have ever reported inaccurately or incorrectly, if we had we would admit to it and issue retraction. What we’re talking about here is embarrassment, senior managers and no doubt EDS are not too happy to have their failures widely reported. But ministerial targets are in the public domain and certainly not an official secret.

Having established that we have every right to produce a blog, management are now trying to get us to password protect it. What they want is for it to only be available to PCS members and not to general public. We have no intention of doing this. The blog is our ‘shop front’ and it is hoped promotes PCS (encouraging new members) and might make people think twice about privatisation. The wider implication seems to be that articles like the Key Targets article are making the agency look bad. Preposterous of course. Imagine for a minute that I’m in Next with my mate Billy Bunter, Billy tries on a ludicrously small T-shirt flounces out of the changing rooms and asks me if the T-Shirt makes him look fat. ‘No Billy, it doesn’t, it’s your fat that make you look fat.’

Lastly we come to the issue of management style. In years gone by Veterans Agency had a good relationship with TUS, there was an atmosphere where consultation and negotiation was normal. Staff satisfaction was high, client satisfaction was high, targets were achieved and the agency was generally respected by the ex-service associations. Post takeover there is not one Veterans Agency manager on the Agency Management Board, and just about every positive aspect has been turned around completely with the added bonus of a doubling of the sickness figures. We are now working in an (in)effective autocracy where negotiation and consultation is treated with contempt; where one man says ‘jump’ and expects us to all say ‘how high’. But this is not the military and there are processes to go through, checks and balances, processes that are being ignored. Just look at the ‘Close Innsworth’ fiasco. My point here is that if this is the way you set out your stall don’t expect those of us who care to come scraping round your skirts for titbits whilst promising to keep our mouths shut.

SPVA Staff Attitude Survey MOD SPVA Veterans agency

We have had many questions from members regarding the results of the SPVA Staff Attitude Survey, particularly since they were mentioned as having been seen by the AMG in April.

Well, since then, your TU H&S reps have been made aware that the results of the SPVA Staff Attitude Survey raise issues that may well have a direct impact upon staffs’ health, safety and welfare.

As members may be aware, under the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 (SRSCR); Regulation 7 states: “appointed safety representatives will need to be given information and knowledge over and above that necessary for employees generally to enable them to play an informed part in promoting health and safety at work.”

The approved code of practice (ACOP) to the same regulations describes the type of information an employer should divulge to safety reps including: “Any other information specifically related to matters affecting the health and safety at work of his employees.”

Given the regulations and the appended code of practice, it is clear that the results of the SPVA Staff Attitude Survey should have been copied to TU H&S as a matter of course for consultation as and when AMG were made aware of the findings. We cannot understand why this did not happen.

We hope that this was simply an oversight, that will not be repeated, rather than a breach of the regulations and code of practice. We have asked management for the survey results to be disclosed to your TU H&S Convenor without further delay and will keep members fully informed as we progress this matter with all urgency.

PCS SAVE 150 SPVA JOBS AT INNSWORTH

Staff at the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency (SPVA) based at Innsworth, Gloucester, celebrated today at news that their jobs are safe.

The decision by Derek Twigg MP, the Under Secretary of State for Defence and Veteran’s Minister not to allow the SPVA Future Accommodation Study(FAS) proposals to move SPVA from the Innsworth site to be given further consideration was warmly welcomed by the PCS union that has fought so hard to keep the 150 jobs at Innsworth.

PCS Branch Secretary, Eric Rothery, said “ Staff here at Innsworth wanted to continue working here, not just for reasons of self interest, but because they genuinely care about the work they do, the support it gives to the front line and they could see the endemic risk of moving these functions for very little, if any, actual economic gain. Management unfortunately did not seem to care about people, be that staff, customers or stakeholders, and we had a constant struggle to see what focus their actions were based upon”.

Throughout the campaign and the consultation process, the local union officials were impressed with the even-handedness of the elected Ministers (Derek Twigg MP and Bob Ainsworth MP) and their willingness to listen to the counter arguments put forward by the staff at Innsworth. The local union is also grateful for the support and dedication shown by the SPVA Whitley Secretary, Andy Boylan, and National Group figures, Calum Campbell, K C Jones and Dougie Brownlie and also the local Retired Officers Association who were also very active in the campaign. They would also like to thank all the PCS friends and colleagues all over the country that signed the petition to keep the SPVA at Innsworth.

The local union would also wish to acknowledge the strength of feeling staff had towards the FAS proposals and this was actively and positively transferred into helping provide input to the response to the Business Case and writing and meeting with their local MP’s and councillors. Staff should be extremely proud that Minister has recognised their expertise and professionalism and has decided that they should be retained within the Defence community.

MoD Group Elections 2008

Click on image for larger view.

Anzac Day

Today’s article is dedicated to Anzac Day. Complimentary to this piece are this weeks Quotes, Lines and Snippets column. ‘The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’ written in 1972 by Eric Bogle. The song has been recorded by a number of artists but my favourite version remains the one performed by Tommy Makem & The Clancy Brothers. It tells the story of an Australian lad sent to fight in Gallipoli in 1915. The song is a little inaccurate as it describes an amphibious assault by Australian troops at Suvla Bay, where in fact the landing at Suvla was carried out entirely by British soldiers. Given the huge casualties suffered by the British at the Somme it is possible to forget the allied casualties at Gallipoli, where around 140,000 servicemen lost their lives, 60,000 of those being Australians.. Equally it is worth remembering that 250,000 Turkish men died in those 8 months too.

Anzac day is of great importance to Australians and New Zealanders with a watershed on the 16th May 2002 when the last Australian survivor of Gallipoli, Alec Campbell (pictured below left), died aged 103 and became the last and final entry in the roll of honour for Gallipoli. Such was the feeling for Alec Campbell, and indeed all the Anzac's he represented, that flags flew at half-mast, major newspapers devoted their front pages to the event, and the Prime Minister cut short a visit to China in order to attend Mr. Campbell's state funeral at St. David's Anglican Cathedral in Hobart, Tasmania.

Initially dedicated to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps that fought in Gallipoli, Anzac day has grown to embrace Australian and New Zealand losses in all conflicts.

At the time of the Gallipoli campaign Australia had only been a Federal Commonwealth for 14 years and the campaign announced their arrival as a global force in their own right. Whilst Australia Day is the nation’s official national day many have chosen Anzac Day as the true national day because it was then that a large part of the national identity was forged.

If anything Anzac day is growing in popularity. Despite the threat of terrorist attacks some 15,000 Australians made the pilgrimage to Turkey to commemorate the fallen ANZAC troops.

Our thoughts go out to the peoples of Australasia on this Anzac day, as well as to anyone else touched by the Gallipoli campaign.

We trust that your Knights of Gallipoli rest in peace.

Ask us to ask the boss.

Members have noted a recent change to Ask The Boss. It has now without warning or indeed any explanatory reason been made mandatory for the individual to identify themselves for their question to be accepted for answer.

Some members have questioned whether this means that individuals could be threatened with disciplinary or some other subtle career limiting action for asking a question that the boss might deem awkward or in some way off-message! We have no way of knowing if that could or would happen, however, in an effort to discern the intention of the recent change, your branch secretary has put the question (below) to Ask The Boss for clarification.

In the meantime, the BEC has today agreed that any members wishing to ask a suitable question and who feels uncomfortable to do so under the new mandatory system may ask the secretary to place it for them. If that is you, please send your question to my Gsi email address (Ian Melvin SPVA) , or to VA(NB)PCS Branch Secretary, room 6117 Norcross, or if you wish to remain anonymous simply leave a question in the form of comment to this post or any other on the blog.

The question put to the Boss by your branch secretary on 22 April is:

“I note with some concern the recent change to Ask The Boss. Previously, the system would allow individuals to Ask The Boss a question with complete anonymity. Now suddenly and without warning it has become mandatory for individuals to identify their names, locations, emails and phone numbers. Could we be told what the collection of this information is to be used for, and by whom?

“Furthermore, can we be assured that the use of any data collected in this way would fully comply with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998, which is for the regulation of the processing of information relating to individuals, including the obtaining, holding, use or disclosure of such information?”

In the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts Eighth Report of Session 2007–08 (Tax Credits and PAYE) (Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 28 January 2008) there are some interesting facts surrounding HMRC’s involvement with EDS. Most of us will be aware that the computer system developed and installed was a disaster, fewer of us will be aware that a ‘fine’ of £71.25m was levied against EDS for these failures.

It is also worth noting that the failures of the system didn’t just cost the taxpayer, in many instances it caused serious problems for persons in receipt of Tax Credits.

Below is an excerpt taken directly from the report, which I am at pains to point out is within the public domain and available to all.

4 The Department’s settlement with EDS

22. Serious problems with the introduction of the computer systems used to support tax credits delayed the processing of claims and led to incorrect payments being made. In November 2005 the Department announced it had settled its claim for compensation with EDS for £71.25 million. The settlement
includes cash payments by EDS and the off setting of certain amounts which would have otherwise been due from HMRC to EDS. Of this sum, staged payments of up to £26.5 million are contingent on EDS winning new business
with the United Kingdom Government. Final settlement of the dispute is contingent on EDS paying the full amount of £71.25 million and the Department has reserved the right to reopen court proceedings if the full amount is not received.

23. In practice, the flow of payments from EDS has been extremely slow because EDS has been less successful in winning government contracts than the Department expected.22 It is highly unlikely that new business for EDS will generate the full payment by the end of 2008 that the Department envisaged. The Department acknowledged that it would take a long time to receive the full amount at the present rate of payment.

24. The Department has held meetings with EDS. It is determined to ensure that it obtains the full settlement even if the new business for EDS is not enough to generate the full payment. The Department is taking steps with EDS that it believes will accelerate the rate of payments from January 2008 and will return to litigation if the full amount of the settlement does not look to be forthcoming within the envisaged period. The Department has discussed with its lawyers a process for bringing the matter back to the courts if the acceleration of payments during 2008 does not meet its expectations.

Whilst we are glad that EDS is being held financially accountable for its mistakes I find it rather curious that they say a proportion of the fine will only be paid on receipt of further government contracts. I would have thought that the opposite should be the case where further government contracts would only be awarded once the fines had been paid in full.

However, in the conclusions and recommendations section of the document the committee says;

The Department’s settlement with EDS

8. In settling its claim against its contractor EDS for the problems encountered in implementing the tax credit system, the Department agreed that £26.5 million of the settlement could be paid in instalments reflecting new government business won by EDS. The Department has recovered little of the £26.5 million and may not obtain payment of full settlement by the end of 2008. We have previously criticised the invidious arrangement that requires the Government to commission further work from the contractor in order to recover compensation for underperformance.

The Department needs to work with EDS to accelerate the rate of payments, and should consider litigation if the full amount of the settlement is not forthcoming in
2008.

What strikes me with this whole issue is the imbalance between contractor and department. Can you imagine a situation in your personal lives were something similar would be OK? Imagine HMRC’s reaction if you decided not to pay your taxes, or decided not to return your overpayments. I think we all know what would happen. Furthermore it must be remembered that EDS is and enormous global corporation. We’re not talking about a local business that really does need to receive payment for its last job before it can buy materials for its’ next job.

In Feb/March 08 edition of @SPVA the CE says ‘Our partnering arrangement with EDS attracts a high degree of scrutiny and in some quarters, cynicism.’

In some ways I suppose that he is correct, but I think that he would have been more accurate had he said ‘…and in some quarters concern, particularly its impact on civil service jobs and cost to the taxpayer.’

By means of and example of how wonderful EDS are the CE tells us how marvellous EDS were in dealing with the loss of 600,000 personal details held on an RN laptop. Given that the details were also held on EDS servers I should jolly well hope that they’d be able to find them. Had it been possible for civil servants to have access to this data (which is our data, on servers that we pay for) then I’m sure they could have done the job equally well.

Given the fines imposed by HMRC on EDS we would be most interested to know if SPVA will be imposing fines on EDS for failures in the JPA Sadly questions to the CE concerning this have been rebuffed with the old ‘commercial in confidence’ line. We would have thought that given that he says that JPA is ‘performing well’ he could simply have said ‘no’. Readers will be please to hear that we are pursing this particular issue via other routes.