Kevan Jones responds over Kentigern House

Kevan Jones has responded to our concerns over the future of Kentigern House.

You can read his response by downloading the PDF scan of his letter here.

This particular response was sent via Dr Liam Fox, who as Shadow for Defence was the first to gain a reply on the issue. Closely followed by Brian Simpson MEP for the North West.

Fylde defence jobs fear

In 'The Gazette' Thursday 17th December, an MoD spokesman confirmed that the number of civilian personnel would be reducing in the Fylde.

Interestingly there was no official denial that more than 400 SPVA jobs could be under threat following Defence Secretary's Bob Ainsworth's announcement of a further 10,000 job cuts in the civilian workforce. The MoD say that, "There are no plans for any compulsory redundancies", but as we know, that is a meaningless statement especially given the recent attack on the Principal Civil Service Compensation Scheme, that has been engineered precisely in order to reduce the cost of making redundancies.

The Branch will actively campaign against any arbitrary staffing cuts.

Mark Serwotka Re-elected as PCS General Secretary

Mark has won a clear victory in the GS election with 63.4% of the vote.

Mark's response to the result:

"PCS members had a clear choice about whether they wanted a union which would stand up for them and fight back against attacks on their jobs, pay and terms and conditions, or a union that would hold its hands up and say nothing could be done. Through this overwhelming show of support for me, members have shown that they want a union that will campaign and organise against the damaging consensus amongst the main political parties, which champions public sector cuts, pay freezes and privatisation. There are massive challenges facing PCS and its members in the year ahead. PCS will remain united in rising to them and PCS members can be confident that their union continue to stand up for them and the public services they care passionately about.”

Thanks go to everyone who helped in whatever way in the election campaign. This is a victory not just for Mark as General Secretary, but for all those in PCS, and across the union movement, who believe that ordinary people should not have to pay for the greed of bankers and corporate executives, that we must build fighting, democratic unions to defend working people, and that a better world is possible.

General Secretary Election 2009

Members are reminded that the branch has nominated Mark Serwotka for the position of General Secretary of PCS.


Ballot papers and members statements have been sent out from head office and should be arriving to your election address shortly. If you have not received yours please contact a branch officer a.s.a.p. as the ballot closes 17th December 2009.


Please remember to vote...and to vote Mark Serwotka.

PCS responds to the Daily Telegraph

12 November 2009

PCS general secretary wrote to the Daily Telegraph in response to its story about bonus payments in the Ministry of Defence.

Dear sir,

If civilian staff in the MoD were receiving huge bonuses, the anger expressed by families of soldiers on the frontline would be understandable, but it’s not true.
Recently over 1,000 MoD civilian staff had to receive an emergency payment because their pay had fallen below the national minimum wage and the department have this year cut the pay and pension of the lowest paid staff.
Most of our 16,000 members earn less than £20,000 per year. After years of pay restraint, the current system means that these low paid civil servants receive paltry, non-pensionable, one-off 'bonuses' of between £300 and £400 instead of fair annual pay rises.
No one is more angry than our members about the mismanagement of defence by politicians, private consultants and senior management.
Our members work directly on the frontline alongside the military providing training, security, procurement, storage, distribution and critical support.
MoD civil servants are working around the clock to support the military and will continue to do so despite the impact of the 25,000 arbitrary job cuts imposed by the government over the last six years.
Instead of disgraceful and misleading attacks on low paid staff the focus should instead be on the real waste.
For example the billions of pounds wasted in the MoD equipment programme every year, on the myriad failed privatisation projects and on the employment of thousands on non-deployable military personnel. This is the real scandal in MoD.

Yours sincerely,


Mark SerwotkaPCS general secretary

Brian Simpson MEP answers our call.

Labour MEP for our region Brian Simpson has written on our behalf to Bob Ainsworth at the MoD to protest the selling of Kentigern House.

You can see a copy of his letter here.

Conservative MEP Jacqueline Foster like Brian points out that it is a national rather than European matter, but she has suggested we refer the matter the Dr Liam Fox, Shadow Defence, which we have done.

We will keep you informed of further developments.

Update: The UKIP MEP Paul Nuttall's agent wrote "This is clearly a domestic matter for the British Government to sort out and as such it does not fall within the remit of Paul Nuttall as an MEP. However, UKIP do support the efforts to sustain your jobs in these difficult times, much of it made worse by the financial mismanagement by the Labour Government.

The Government has a poor track record when it comes to public spending and has wasted billions of pounds of taxpayers money. UKIP would seek to reform Government, introducing a lighter touch and reducing waste (on projects such as the E.U. or the Millenium Dome). This would allow proper funding of jobs for workers in this country."

So, no joy from them, we are offered is the usual meaningless rattle... I mean, the Millenium Dome? Please, that was 9 years ago!

MoD Bonuses: Part Deux

Government defends bonuses for MoD civil servants

Indeed, our esteemed Home Secretary has waded in to defend us against accusations that we are given bonuses willy-nilly, with, and I kid you not, the following explanation:

Alan Johnson told GMTV: "I think we need to find more detail about what MoD civil servants do, what they get the bonuses for, before you say this is unjustified.

"Our priority always has to be the soldiers at the frontline for equipment, for pay, for conditions." But, he said, civil servants had to go "into the frontline" to, for example, develop mechanisms to protect troops from improvised explosive devices.

"When they do that my understanding is they work 17, 18 hours in Afghanistan. They don't get overtime for that – they get a bonus to compensate."

Some are born great, some have greatness thrust upon them, and sometimes, dumb just happens.

Ministry of Defence civil servants paid £47 million in bonuses

According to the Telegraph today "civil servants at the Ministry of Defence have been paid £47 million in performance bonuses so far this year despite claims that troops in Afghanistan lack essential equipment.

There are 85,000 civil servants at the MoD — one for every two active soldiers, the highest level among the Allied nations — and about 50,000 will get a performance bonus this year.

The bonus figure covers just the first seven months of the financial year. The MoD said yesterday that the bonuses would average less than £1,000, but a senior civil servant could pick up £8,000. Last year, the department had 95 employees who were on a salary of more than £100,000. A private in the Army can be paid as little as £16,681 a year, with a bonus of £13 a day for serving in Afghanistan. "

PCS say the answer is simple... scrap the bonus scheme which is unfair and unweildy and roll the pot back into main MoD pay from whence it came and where it rightly belongs.

We will remember them.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning.

We will remember them.

Unlucky for some?

On this Friday, the 13th, to 'celebrate' the start of the HP SPVA Interim Contract, HP have arranged a complimentary breakfast for all SPVA staff. (Unless of course you aren't at core sites... sorry IPPH and VWS!)

We think that this scheme smacks of corporate hospitality. (Should we enter it in the gift book?)

We also believe that we, the taxpayer, will pay for it (indirectly) if we haven't paid for it already.

We think this idea is nuts, and that there are easier and more ethical ways of getting a breakfast.

What do you think?

Kentigern House Sale

The sale of Kentigern House in Glasgow is going ahead. A 20 year lease is being sought in exchange for £47 million pounds. (We understand an offer in excess of £50 million has already been received.)

The actual cost to the taxpayer however over the 20 year lease period will be in the region of £140 million when rent and maintenance costs are calculated. We believe this to be entirely unacceptable and have sent letters to our Parliamentary representatives in protest and urge all members wherever they are based to do so.

It was stated at a PCS MoD all members meeting in Kentigern House recently that senior officials within Defence Estates and Land Forces areas have already admitted that it does not make financial sense, but such is the perilous financial situation in the MoD, they need to raise income quickly. If this is the case, there has been severe financial mismanagement across the MoD and this is not something ordinary workers or indeed the taxpayer should suffer.

The sale of the building will also threaten the security of 400 jobs in Hewlett Packard (EDS) who is a tenant within Kentigern House and SPVA’s ‘business partner’, who, if faced with a massive increase in rental costs, may look to relocate their work elsewhere. This is particularly likely to happen if the rumours are true, and it is the case that HP (EDS) currently only pay a peppercorn rent for their occupancy of Kentigern House. This fact in itself is something of a scandal, if true, as it would allow HP(EDS) an unfair advantage in bidding for contract work, undercutting civil service employees and other commercial suppliers alike, and is singularly deserving of clarification from the Minister.

The MoD has failed to properly consult with PCS, the recognised Trade Union, and seem driven by short term desperation to plug a funding gap. This is unacceptable and urgent action is needed to halt the plans which are at a very advanced stage. The existing MoD budget must be utilised more efficiently as an alternative to wasting taxpayer’s money.

The Veterans Agency branch have written to MPs, MSPs and MEPs and urge all members to do so. A draft letter can be viewed and retrieved here. Please ammend and personalize for your particular location. You can easily send your representatives an electronic letter through writetothem .

The Freeze just got colder.

On top of the expected pay and pension freezes we now have an even bleaker prospect in the guise of a massive EU climate tax.

As reported in todays Daily Express, Families face a £541-a-year rise in household bills under EU plans to fund its budget through “eco taxes”.

Campaigners warn that both householders and industry would be hit by soaring energy costs as a result of Brussels levying a controversial tax on carbon emissions.
Researchers have discovered that the cost of the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme, introduced to reduce greenhouse gases, already costs every family in Britain £117.

But according to leaked EU Commission documents seen by the Daily Express, Brussels chiefs are planning to turn the ETS into a direct tax to fund the EU’s £110 billion-a-year budget.
To raise the UK’s current £16.4billion contribution to the EU budget through the ETS would mean increasing the burden on British families from £117 to £658 – an increase of £541. Public spending campaigners warned that even if the EU raised only part of its bloated budget from ETS, it would still prompt large increases in household energy bills.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “The EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme is a stealth tax that already imposes large costs on ordinary consumers.

BNP candidate arrested on explosive charge.

"A BNP candidate who built hangman's gallows for export to corrupt regimes has been charged with possessing explosives in suspicious circumstances. David Lucas has also been charged with owning an illegal weapon and ammunition with intent to endanger life.

The 49-year-old, who stood for the far-right party in this year's European elections, was arrested when police swooped on addresses in East Anglia in April.

Lucas hit the headlines in May 2006 when he revealed that he was sending his gallows and £100,000 execution systems to countries such as Zimbabwe.

He said he stopped making them in July 2006 after the export of hangman's equipment was made illegal by an EU directive. But the death penalty campaigner still has a gallows complete with noose on show at his farm in Lakenheath, Suffolk."
as reported in todays Metro

You could not make this stuff up about the BNP.

Questionable Times

Jacqui 'Lightfingered' Smith appeared last night on the BBC's Question Time. (I will let you decide if this is more or less controversial than having the BNP on.)

Anyway, she was asked whether MP's disgraced by the expenses fiasco should be elevated to the House of Lords (as she will be next May, believe it or not!). Obviously she barely attempted to answer the question and what she did say was quite unsatisfactory. Then an audience member challenged her about the £116,000 she claimed wrongly for 'not' living in her sisters bedsit. When asked if she would pay this back, she said that the committee investigating the matter, decided that although she had done wrong, it would have cost the taxpayer the same amount if she had, actually claimed correctly for a second home, therefore, she said, she would not have to pay it back as she had not benefited from it.

Excuse me? She claimed quite wrongly, indeed some might argue fraudulently, a total of £116,000 of taxpayers money as a second home allowance for a home she neither had nor lived in, or payed any pay rent or mortgage on... and she claims now that she did not benefit from this money? If that is the case, where exactly did this £116,000 go to?

Cluster bomb trade funded by world's biggest banks

Not only do they bring the world to the brink of financial crisis, and then make massive profits from the carnage they caused...
the worlds biggest banks also make massive profits from the engines of death.

The deadly trade in cluster bombs is funded by the world's biggest banks who have loaned or arranged finance worth $20bn (£12.5bn) to firms producing the controversial weapons, despite growing international efforts to ban them, reports the Guardian.

MPs' expenses: Tony McNulty faces rebuke over second home claims

Tony McNulty, a former home office minister, will be censured by the committee on standards and privileges for claiming £60,000 of Commons expenses on the home where his parents live, according to the Guardian.

He had claimed for a second home in his Harrow East constituency in London and is expected to be asked to repay £13,000 of the claim.

He will also be asked to apologise to his fellow MPs immediately.

So he will be 'asked' to apologise and pay back £13,000? We guess he gets to keep the other £47,000, and his job, and his pension and his perks and his severance pay when he gets booted out of parliament next year.

Any of us could have been sacked for a basic mistake on a travel expense claim amounting to nothing more than a few pounds, even pence.

Nick Griffin's mother-in-law says the BNP leader is a 'racist'

The mother-in-law of Nick Griffin has said the BNP leader is a “racist”.

In the Telegraph today Muriel Cook, 72, the mother of Griffin’s wife Jackie, described her son-in-law as a “work-shy pretender” who put his politics ahead of his family.
She said: “Nick is still a racist. He still holds those views – always has. He wants to see an all-white Britain, but that will never happen... he’s living in the Dark Ages."

Seems like things are just going from bad to worst for the BNP.

(Thanks to the late Les Dawson for the visual MiL joke.)

After the Party's over...

...and barely had the glasses been cleared than the BNP's own began to attack their leader... for being untrue to the parties true nature.

As reported in todays Observer, here ;

'Lee Barnes, the BNP's legal officer, accused Griffin of "failing to press the attack" during the televised debate, which was watched by a record 8 million people. Barnes complained on his personal website that Griffin "should have stood up to these whining, middle-class hypocrites that use the race card for self-enrichment – and thrown the truth right back into their fat, sanctimonious, hypocritical, self-serving faces". He accused his party's leader of "failing to press the attack" on the "ethnic middle class" for "taking up the best jobs while still playing the bogus race card for every opportunity". And in a move that is likely to reinforce concerns that Griffin's appearance will spark violence, Barnes used his personal website to suggest that "perhaps there needs to be a few 'white riots' around the country a la the Brixton riots of the 1980s before the idiot white liberal middle class and their ethnic middle-class fellow travellers wake up".

A spokesman for the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight said: "This strips away once and for all Nick Griffin's pretence that the BNP is a non-violent organisation. Lee Barnes is not just another BNP member, he is the organisation's legal officer, and here he is talking about riots in the streets. The BNP hoped the Question Time appearance would mark their entry to the political mainstream, but instead they have pushed themselves back to the violent, extremist political fringe where they belong."

Because they're worth it?

In todays Times Bankers and their camp followers defend their right to massive bonuses. We pick out one for your education, delectation and outrage:

The Wife
“I know some people look at our lifestyle and cringe and it does sometimes embarrass me. We have the obligatory double-fronted house in a communal garden in Notting Hill, with a gardener, a housekeeper/cook, a cleaner, a chauffeur, a nanny and a tutor. But it has come at a huge price. Most of the time I feel like a single mother — my husband comes home now and again, repacks his suitcase and is off to another European city. We do use Netjet for our Ibiza summer holidays but that is because he gets only one holiday a year, and even then he spends most of the time pacing up and down the beach on his BlackBerry in his Vilebrequins. He can never make our son’s parents’ evenings and missed our daughter playing the lead in the school play. I don’t think he has ever swum with the children in our pool. Even they sometimes wonder whether all the quad bikes, Nintendo Wiis and skiing weekends are worth it. I had to give up my career to keep the family together and he now looks 20 years older than I do. We make a huge effort to go to charitable events and are continually entertaining clients. But he missed my surprise 40th birthday party because he was on a conference call. If it wasn’t for the bonus, it wouldn’t be worth it.”

There, there. I am sure we are all happy to go on making it worth it for you.

£3K PAY HIKE FOR MPS AFTER EXPENSES CUT

GORDON Brown is planning to buy off MPs angry at having their expenses slashed by offering them a £3,000 pay rise, it emerged last night. read the article here

This is the same man who is offering pensioners a measley £124 a year increase on their state pension next year!

The same man who suggests we should forego pay increases and settle for a pay freeze (an effective pay cut!)!

The same man that wants to cut our civil service compensation scheme to allow our employers the option to offer only basic statutory redundancy terms when they come to sacking us!

The same man who wants to cut the Mod civil service by nearly 30,000 posts.

The same man who gave all our money to the bankers that we will never see back!

We woner if he drives a Volkswagon?

Our trust and hopes totally Fredding shredded?

We were promised that the money was a loan. That it would be paid back. But then they all started talking the need for pay freezes, pension cuts, job losses.

Yet hadn't they, all of them, promised to ensure that excessive bonuses would be a thing of the past?

And now RBS of all banks plan to give up to, and I exaggerate not... £5 Million pounds in individual bonuses!

A total bonus pot of £4 Billion Pounds! Thats right, £4 Billion Pounds of our money is going to be paid to champagne swilling public school associates of Messrs. Osborne, Cameron, Blair and Darling.

Thats a Billion from our salaries.

A billion from our pensions.

A billion from our services.

And a billion from our jobs.

And for what? Well, for making a massive profit with our money that they have used to defraud us all by writing off their bad debts, trousering our cash, then selling off the residue to loan collection companies, defaulted mortgages etc. at say 20% face value, which they also trousered. Oh yes, they also made profits on the 'bad mortgages' by selling the property secured against the original loan. Another tasty little profit.

Read the article here.

Inside view on the BNP

The Fleetwwod Weekly news have published an excellent account of one of their reporters experience of the BNP meeting held at the Frank Townend Centre in Cleveleys. You can read the article here .

Just a year on from the financial crisis...

....and the big banks, Goldman Sachs preeminent amongst them, are already stacking up huge amounts of cash in bonus pots ready to award their hard working bankers with millions and billions of bucks and pounds and yens.

How can this be, you ask? The government, the Tories, even the Liberals say we must all take either/or a pay freeze (actually a pay cut), compensations scheme cuts, pension cuts, job cuts, service cuts... and why? To maintain and reduce the public debt, they say. But wait, aren't we in such bad debt because we had to borrow loads of money to support failing banks? And isn't this money supposed to be paid back to us by those very financial institutions that caused the mess in the first place?

Then how is it that those very financial institutions that caused the crisis are already making massive profits and preparing to pay out the biggest bonus pot in history?

The truth is that the banks are using our money, paid for with our future pay, pensions, jobs and services to make their profits and to reward their staff. Neither the government nor the opposition parties propose anything substantial to halt or control this obscene fraud that is being conducted before our eyes.

Those politicians that understand what is happening do nothing because they have their snouts and trotters firmly buried in the same trough... and those that don't understand it go along with the game as a bunch of useful idiots, blinded by the baubles offered to them in the forms of floating duck houses, pornographic movies and mortgage payments on second, third and even fourth properties.

Perhaps once the veil of avarice has been removed from their eyes, the bulk of our representatives will begin to see the wider world and try to grasp just what is being done to the vast majority of us by a small and very wealthy and powerful minority.

This isn't about class, as it was back in days of Wilson and Heath. No, what is happening today is that an increasingly powerful oligarchy is dictating the economy of the world through fraud, deception and political patronage.

BNP forced to end policy for ‘whites only’ membership

The BNP will be forced to admit black and Asian members after a legal victory for the Government's Equality and Human Rights Commission which will end the party's “white only” policy.

In a court order issued today, the party agreed to amend its constitution to ensure that its membership rules no longer discriminate on grounds of race, religion or any other “protected characteristic” specified under equality legislation.

The commitment means the party, which previously allowed only “indigenous Caucasians” and those from connected ethnic groups to become members, will now be required to admit any person who wishes to join its ranks. The policy change was announced today at the Central London county court after the BNP decided to admit defeat in a legal battle with the Equality and Human Rights Commission over its membership rules.

More

Were all in this together? Again?

No Tory action on MP’s £100k claims

David "Call Me Dave" Cameron today took no action against a Conservative MP who is accused of paying £100,000 of public money into his own company.

David Wilshire, 66, set up the business with his girlfriend and then paid it with his Commons allowances for office assistance and other services.

Mr Wilshire, the MP for Spelthorne, Surrey, admits that he and his partner Ann Palmer were the sole owners of Moorlands Research Services, which was not a registered company. For three years between 2005 and 2008, Mr Wilshire paid up to £3,250 a month into it. Along with extra invoices submitted, the total paid was £105,500.

Parliamentary expenses rules forbid MPs from entering into arrangements that “may give rise to an accusation“ of profiteering from taxpayers' money. According to the Daily Telegraph, parliamentary officials did not check how the money was spent and Mr Wilshire did not provide a breakdown.

Perhaps Mr Wilshire and Dave went to the same school or something?

Addendum: Last night Mr Wilshire said he will not stand at the next election? Is this so he does not have to pay back that which he has appropriated?

First come, first served

The Government has ordered a fire sale of assets worth £16 billion – including a stake in a uranium enrichment firm – as the first steps towards tackling the deficit, reports the Telegraph, today .

"The Government also plans to auction off surplus real estate, part of a £220 billion portfolio owned by departments and quangos."

That would include Kentigern House then?

If this is the "first steps", what on earth will be steps two, three and four? Your guess is as good as ours!

Whatever, we're all in this together?

From Rod Liddle in todays Times:

A survey out last week revealed that “whatever” and “at the end of the day” were two of the most loathed words or phrases in America. Maybe we should offer a contender from the UK: “We’re all in this together.” Especially when uttered by a millionaire politician — who therefore isn’t really in it — to excuse freezing the wages of poorly paid public sector workers who truly are in it, a consequence of the behaviour of very rich bankers who put us in it but who are not themselves in it because the millionaire politician who talked about us all being in this together doesn’t think they should be in it and won’t raise their taxes or clobber them with a windfall tax. At the end of the day or whatever.

(Pictured left is Boy George "We're All In This Together [unless you're wadded]" Osborne, Tory toff, millionaire associate of Russian billionaire oligarchs, sometime Shadow Chancellor and chumster of David "Call me Dave" Cameron)

Tories to cut MoD civillian jobs by 25%!

As reported yesterday (and see new PCS circular here) the Tories are to cut MoD costs by 25%, and entirely from the civillian staff. As Tory Shadow Defence Secretary Liam 'Sly Old Fox' Fox puts it, (BBC) when "Frederick Duke of York was preparing for the Napoleonic threat between 1792 and 1804 he increased the size of the Army from 50,000 to nearly 500,000 - and he did it with 38 staff at Horse Guards."

That is as may be, but of course, what he fails to realize, being an out of touch Tory Toff is that the clerical, logistical and support functions for the Army were done then by uniformed staff in the regiments... something that has changed in modern times as more and more civillian staff, like us, have taken on roles once the preserve of regimental clerks and quartermasters, such as making the payroll, procuring and delivering supplies, and a myriad of ancillary support and clerical functions. Moreover, civillian staff perform those jobs at a fraction of the cost and across the three services.

Even the Liberals claim they will reduce MoD civillian staff by 10,000!

So what will go? The staff supporting service personnels families? Maybe civillians making sure soldiers are paid on time? Or perhaps those delivering the food and weaponry to the conflicts? Your guess is as good as ours.

What we do know for sure is the cuts will be unwarranted, driven by political dogma and damaging to the economy and the MoD and the services it supports. We also now know for sure a vote for either is to vote to end support for front line military personnel and/or support given to veterans.

Unite against the BNP in Cleveleys

It has been brought to our attention that the BNP are holding a meeting (invite only as far as we are aware, although rumours have been heard that it is to be a public meeting) in the Frank Townend Community Centre in Cleveleys which is owned by Wyre Borough Council.

The meeting is taking place on 13th October 2009.

You are all urged to complain to Wyre Borough Council on 01253 891000 or by email and The Frank Townend Community Centre on 01253 863369.

The BNP is an extremist racist organisation that seeks to divide the community, and as such we feel that a community centre (especially a council owned one) that is supposed to serve the needs of the whole community is not the place for such a group to hold a meeting.

Please phone/email and ask them to cancel this meeting on the grounds that a community centre should be there to serve the whole community, and not to promote a group that seeks to divide and alienate whole sectors of the community.

If they do not cancel the meeting then the UAF will be arranging a demo outside the building.

We are all in this together...

...Yeah, right!

'Tory Boy' George Osborne claimed 7 times at the Tory conference that "we are all in this together." He gave the very real impression that merely a pay freeze, a longer working life and piffling attacks on our pensions would be THE price's we will pay to support the bankers, Old Etonians and dying millionaire's heirs. Yes we are all in this together, unless, it seems, we are in the MoD.

Todays Times reports that the Tory's plan to make 25% cuts in the costs of running the MoD, with no plans to cut uniformed personnel; "instead sweeping cuts would be applied to the 89,300-strong workforce of civilian staff employed. "

By my reackoning thats around 22,325 civillian jobs to be disposed of in the MoD.

So who, exactly, is in this together?

Hooray! What they don't steal...

... they can pay for?

Tory member is arrested at party conference for 'stealing £150 bottle of champagne', reports the Daily Mail.

Apparently is was all a big mistake and the Tory member intended to pay the £150 for the bottle! The toffs had probably been on it all night anyway, celebrating being "all in this together" with the rest of us? Yah!

MoD pay update 21

Pay grievances

Our union has seen the letter that MoD has now issued to PCS members who have lodged grievances in respect of the reduced pay band maxima at E1 and E2.

We are asking all members to:

1. Attend the grievance hearing – this is your opportunity to tell the department what you think about the decision to cut your pay and pension.
2. MoD has asked all members to set out the remedy that they seek from the grievance process. We advise members to use the following form of words: "that MoD reinstitute the pay band maxima for my grade (specify E1/E2) to the figure as at April 2009"
3. We also ask members to set out what the imposed cut means for you in terms of the pay award that you will receive and also any other relevant information.

PCS will provide all members with representation at the grievance hearing.

Update on MoD pay negotiations

After Susan Scholefield, the MoD director of civilian personnel refused to meet with PCS members impacted by pay and pension cuts, we have now written to Bob Ainsworth, the secretary of state for defence with a request that he meet our members.

We are suggesting that he directly intervenes in this dispute and helps address the concerns of PCS members. Unfortunately as yet, he has not responded to our letter.

We will now ask John McDonnell, the chair of the PCS parliamentary group to write to Mr Ainsworth asking him to intervene and to try and resolve an issue that threatens the pay of thousands of his employees.

National pay update

Civil service pay continues to be unfair, unequal and irrational. Staff continue to be paid different rates for work of equal value.

In comparison to the rest of the public sector our pay has progression up the pay scale funded from the pay allocated. Every other part of the public sector funds progression/advancement separately to the basic pay award. This is wholly unfair.

Our union continues to put pressure on the Treasury and the government and we are determined to win on our objectives on pay which are:

· A reduction in the number of bargaining units
· Eradication of the huge pay differences, of up to 25% or more, for work of equal value
· Common conditions of service package
· Abolition of performance pay and bonus payments (putting less money into non-consolidated pay and more into consolidated pay rates).
· A return to national pay bargaining across all civil service organisations.

Defend jobs – Defend the CSCS

Not only is the MoD job slaughter continuing, but it is clear that developing plans being drawn up by our employer and the government will see the attack intensify. NO JOB in MoD is safe.

The media is full of quotes from discredited politicians engaged in a grotesque auction of promised job cuts. Our members are not the cause of the economic crisis – but are being asked to pay for it with their jobs and pay.

If that were not bad enough we are also attacked with disgraceful lies. For example Liam Fox, the Conservative shadow defence secretary claims: “the military seems consistently to shrink while the civil service keeps growing?” (strange, when 36,500 MOD civil servant jobs have been lost since 1997 compared to only 19.000 service posts), as well threats of a pay freeze and attack on pensions from the Liberal Democrats.

As for the current Government, the less said about New Labour the better!

The current proposals to slash the entitlements in the civil service compensation scheme (CSCS) must be seen for what they are.

The government proposals can only save money once civil servants are made redundant – and therefore the proposed cuts represent a clearing of the ground to begin a savage attack on our jobs which will allow the next government to cut tens of thousands of posts in the future on the cheap.

In 2005, the government agreed a deal with our union to honour our existing pensions with a new scheme (the best in the public service) put in place for new entrants. At the very least, the same should happen with the CSCS.

Yours sincerely,
Paul Barnsley Group Secretary
Chris Dando Group President
KC Jones Group Vice President

Members under the age of 27

Regional Young Members Network Meeting

The young member’s network aims to:

Provide an easily accessible platform for young members to develop their skills as a union representative
Get involved in young member specific campaigning and
Share experience with other young members.
The young member’s network has successfully built up a network of nearly 500 young members in different workplaces and regions and we are continuing to build links with other trade unions and youth organisations.

There will young members meeting 0n Monday 19th October 13.00 at Trinity Bridge House 2 Dearmans place Salford M3 5BA.

For further details click here

Information on CSCS, Annual Leave and the Credit Union

Copies of recent circulars can be accessed
at the following link: Here

Briefing to right of us,

Briefing to left of us
Briefing behind us
Volley'd and thunder'd;
And yet again attacks come upon civillian staff in the MoD as the Telegraph reports "Two troops for every civil servant in the MoD" Read here
What they of course fail to mention are the massive cuts already made in staffing over the past few years, nor do they point out that many of the civillian jobs are in fact staff employed at significantly reduced rates doing work previously undertaken by service personnel.

As members today heard about and discussed the attacks upon the Civil Service Compensation Scheme, briefings continue in Whitehall against MoD civillian staff in particular. It is certain that a campaign aimed at softening public opinion over major manpower cuts is being played out in the more than co-operative capitalist media. This campaign alongside startling unanimity of opinion amongst the main political parties over pay freezes, cuts, and pensions reform (i.e. plundering) alerts us to the coming battles to be fought over our incomes, our jobs and the security of our retirement benefits.

Sub Sunk!

Trident fleet to be cut Gordon Brown to announce

The surprise move will inevitably be seen as an opening salvo in the battle to find Whitehall savings to help pay off the record deficit built up by Labour.
However, the Prime Minister will claim the move is part of a nuclear non-proliferation deal that Mr Brown hopes to engineer on his four day trip to America. Read the article here

Liberal's also attack our pensions and pay

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat treasury spokesperson laid out their public sector plans at their party conference.

He talked about “too many unaffordable defence commitments” and further advocated freezing public sector pay and abandoning civil service bonuses. Our union will welcome any move to get rid of bonus schemes in the civil service, but not in conjunction with pay freezes!

Rather than looking to improve pension provisions across the board, he advocated a race to the bottom as he talked of “very generous subsidised public sector pensions which desperately need reform” whilst “occupational pensions in private firms have been cut to shreds.” Our union will make no apology for fighting to retain our existing pension rights.

Addendum: This from the man who dropped a clanger yesterday, embarrassing himself and his colleagues over his ill thought out £1million pound house tax - Read the article here

Tory priorities for Defence?

Liam Fox, the Conservative shadow defence secretary outlined his priorities for defence. He asked why “the military seems consistently to shrink while the civil service keeps growing?”

According to the DASA statistics, the Ministry of Defence civil service population has shrunk from 266,000 to 69,000 in the period 1975-2008, a drop of 197,000. In the corresponding period, the service figures have gone from 338,000 to 187,000, a drop of 151,000.

Not only is Mr Fox wrong in his assertion, but the MoD civilian workforce has as you can see already been cut by almost three quarters in less than 35 years. Our union did agree with one statement Mr Fox made – “You can delegate authority, but not responsibility. Labour Ministers are to blame for the failings at the Ministry of Defence - not the Civil Service or the Armed forces.” – we are not to blame, and should the Conservatives form the next government, we will be asking Mr Fox and his party to honour this statement by not seeking to push the blame onto civil servants.

Extraordinary General Meeting - Yesterday

There was a branch Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) yesterday, 17th September 2009 held in Tommies.

The following motions were discussed and voted on at the meeting and both were carried unanimously and become branch policy.

Motion 1
This EGM is aware that General Secretary elections will take place in PCS this year. This EGM agrees to nominate Mark Serwotka as General Secretary of PCS and agrees that Mark Serwotka should be supported by the Branch Machinery in his bid to be re-elected and pledges to support the Serwotka campaign.

Motion 2
In a bid to reduce the amount of paper used in the union office which will benefit the environment and be a time saving initiative, this EGM agrees that, where possible, e-mails will be sent to members instead of paper distribution. To accomplish this, all members will be put onto the members’ mailing list as soon as possible regardless of whether they have previously ‘opted-in’ to this system or not. This EGM also notes that in some circumstances e-mail cannot be used and so paper distribution or desk dropping will need to be used instead.

The illness that dare not speak its name

Poor mental health is becoming as big a problem as heart disease. It must not be taboo in the office

It is known in medical circles as the Oscar Pistorius question: if an athlete with no legs can compete at Olympic level, why should an employee with a history of mental illness not be allowed the chance of holding down a decently paid job?

Richard Saville-Smith is posing precisely this question at an industrial hearing in Edinburgh, where he claims that he was dismissed from his high-powered public relations job with Scotland’s tourist agency, despite a track record of achievement at executive level, because of an onset of bipolar disease, or manic depression.

The case is continuing, and the facts have not yet been established. But it is an important test not just of discrimination law, but of civilised values. There is no justification for bias these days against those who carry the burden and the stigma of mental illness.

Indeed the law forbids it. The Disability Discrimination Act specifically protects job applicants or employees from discrimination on the ground of serious mental impairment up to and including schizophrenia. The European Convention on Human Rights included it as recently as this year: no personnel office is unaware of the implications.

Read the full Times article here

Now Tories propose £10 charge to see GP!

One wonders just what will happen to our NHS if the Tories are elected at the next election. After one of Dave Cameron's darlings described the NHS as a 60 year-old mistake(here), another of his golden tory boys proposes to charge us £10 to see our GP.




Read more here

Tory NHS critic's hero is... not Dave?

"Controversial Tory MEP Daniel Hannan has caused fresh embarrassment for Conservative leader David Cameron after naming Enoch Powell as his political hero.

Mr Hannan recently provoked controversy by describing the NHS as a '60 year mistake', saying that he 'wouldn't wish it on anyone'.

Now in an interview with US internet television channel reason.tv, he has cited anti-immigration campaigner Mr Powell as his political influence."

Dave must be so proud.



Read more here

Dumbed-down defenders of their own turf

General Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank former UK Chief of Defence Staff speaks up about the Mod in todays Times:

"Britain is at war, but one would never know it walking around Whitehall. For too many politicians it is merely another day of awkward things happening in far away places. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan appear no more than inconvenient blips — something to be muddled through until things return to normal.

And muddle is the word, as was manifest in a scathing report into defence procurement leaked this week. Its author, the former Labour adviser Bernard Gray, an experienced observer of the defence scene, blamed incompetence and “political fudge” for £35 billion of defence project overspending.

Moreover, The Times revealed that poor decisions about software have kept eight Chinook helicopters, costing a total of £259 million, in climate-controlled hangars during the Iraq and Afghan conflicts. Such an error would never happen in the private sector without dismissals and a plain identification of where the buck stopped."

Read the article here

And then they come for us?

Crunch time for council workers’ golden pensions reports the Times, today:

"Millions of public sector workers will have their pensions slashed under plans to deal with a massive shortfall in the value of local government pension funds, The Times has learnt.

The move by ministers to strip council workers of their “gold-standard” final-salary pensions is likely to trigger widespread industrial action.

It comes as the gap between public and private sector pensions widens. Yesterday Royal Bank of Scotland became the latest company to reduce final-salary benefits to existing staff. John Denham, the Communities Secretary, is drawing up a series of proposals to overhaul the pensions of two million council workers, covering short, medium and longer terms."

Read the article here

Recycling in the SPVA

PCS and SPVA are committed to Sustainable Development, and to recycling wherever and whenever possible.

We’d like to take this opportunity to ask that you, the members, help promote Recycling in the workplace.

Why recycle?

Not a question that should really require an answer but there are many reasons:

· Recycling saves trees – Half of the Earth’s rainforests have gone now. Trees take in the carbon dioxide we breathe out and in turn expel the oxygen we need.
· Recycling helps curb global warming – By recycling just one ton of glass energy savings of more than 300% can be made, and carbon dioxide emissions reduced by almost 3.5 tons.
· Recycling reduces water pollution – Turning trees into paper is the most water intensive industrial process today in the United States and other countries. Paper recycling mills use far less water, and consequently produce far less pollution.
· Recycling reduces the need for landfills – Most of our planet is water. We have a finite amount of land in which to “dump” unwanted items. Recycling will therefore reduce the amount of land needed, and also reduce the toxic pollution produced by landfill which escapes into the air and into the ground.
· Recycling saves energy – It is less labour intensive and polluting to recycle materials than to produce new materials, this means that energy and fuel is saved. The fossil fuels currently in use by most large companies won’t last forever.
· Recycling saves money – Selling recyclables materials offsets the cost of collecting and processing them. This makes recycling a cheaper option than new production.

What can you do in the office?

You can do your bit, no matter how small. If all staff in the SPVA recycled items the savings, both to the Department, and at home, would surely mount up in time.

1 Emails Do you need to print an email? If you need to save it for future reference then move it to a folder on your PC. A manager giving feedback to staff as a result of an email, for instance, needs only to send it to staff, give them time to read it, then feedback. They don’t need to print it out and hand a copy to each member of staff. We all know there are occasions however, when an email does need to be printed. In that case, please ensure you long edge (double side) your printing. This would halve the amount of printed paper produced immediately.

2 Re-use Finished with a piece of paper? Turn it over, use the blank paper left for any notes you need to make. Don’t just throw it because you’ve finished the current piece of work it was needed for.

3 Recycle Every office has confidential waste sacks. When you’ve finally finished using the paper, or documents are no longer necessary and must be removed, put them in these sacks. And remember the same can be done for the cardboard boxes that stationery etc is delivered in. Break them down and put them in sacks for recycling.

Do you have recycle bins? Many offices have recycling bins. If you have, put your empty cans, bottles etc in them. If not, ask your management how to get them installed.

Do you have any ideas you would like to see PCS take forward to help sustain the environment? Please forward them to your local PCS Environmental Rep.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Alison Platt
Environmental Rep
Veterans Agency (National Branch)

Brown: I will cut spending

£25bn Trident nuclear weapons system may be among key projects delayed or cut, according to The Independant today:

"Gordon Brown is to issue a list of specific spending cuts before the general election in an attempt to convince voters that Labour will reduce the soaring deficit in public finances.

The Prime Minister has been reluctant to use the word "cuts", fearing that Labour would look no different to a Conservative Party committed to spending less than Labour. But The Independent has learnt that as a key part of Mr Brown's autumn fightback he will change tack on the issue which will be the central battleground in the election expected next spring.

Mr Brown will deny he is redrawing his favourite "dividing line" – contrasting "Labour investment versus Tory cuts". However, he has come under pressure from Cabinet ministers, led by the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, to change his language on public spending amid fears that Labour could lose the argument."

What money on our jobs going before nuclear weapons?
Read the article here

"60-year-old mistake"

Leading Tories describe the NHS as a 60-year-old mistake.

A bigger mistake would be to vote for THEM.

The Observer (today) can reveal that leading Tory MPs – who include Cameron's close ally Michael Gove – are listed alongside controversial MEP Daniel Hannan as co-authors of a book, Direct Democracy, which says the NHS "fails to meet public expectations" and is "no longer relevant in the 21st century".

Read more here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/aug/16/tory-mps-back-nhs-dismantling

Civil service compensation scheme

7 August 2009 - Government intends to tear up longstanding agreement on terms and conditions to cut jobs on the cheap

The Cabinet Office has published proposals for changes to the civil service compensation scheme (CSCS). If implemented, the changes will leave many PCS members tens of thousands of pounds worse off in the event of voluntary or compulsory redundancy.
This is a disgrace, and is particularly cynical at a time when we can clearly see that tens of thousands of jobs are at risk over the next few years.

The CSCS is the redundancy and early retirement payment scheme for the civil service and many other public bodies.

If your employer is in the principal civil service pension scheme (PCSPS) you will be covered by the CSCS and the benefits from the scheme are accrued entitlements that we believe the government have no right to remove. As it is a statutory scheme changes have to be agreed by parliament.

PCS, with the other civil service unions, have been in negotiations with the Cabinet Office about the scheme since the autumn of last year. The published proposals which have not been agreed with the unions do not represent the best offer that could have been made.

The employer refused to put a further offer that would have given some protection during transitional arrangements when PCS was not prepared to be coerced into giving an undertaking to recommend acceptance.

Even this revised offer was completely unacceptable and would still have meant a detriment to the vast majority of existing staff, particularly those facing a redundancy situation in the future.

We believe the proposals are an outrageous attempt to cut people’s jobs on the cheap at a time when many are worried about job security.

Read more here

You don't have to be MoD to work here...

In Private Eye No.1242, 7-20 August, In The Back,

they report that the Ministry of Defence accounts, sneaked out at the end of the parliamentary term, shows that the "MoD is still losing hundreds of millions of pounds on two shambolic schemes highlighted in the Eye."

Firstly chaos still reigns at the DSDA where "particularily high discrepencies" were largely responsible for the National Audit Office refusing to vouch for the accounting of £6bn worth of equipment - including £155m worth of Bowman radios whose whereabouts are unknown.

But perhaps of more interest to our members is that "elsewhere in the MoD empire, the unified forces payroll system designed by the p***poor IT firm EDS is still causing havoc three years after it began. Last year the system made overpayments of £204m to some personnel while underpaying others by £64m. As the NAO concludes: "Several step changes are still required before the end-to-end military pay process including JPA can be considered fit for purpose." In English, that means that the EDS system is still... rubbish."

Read it here

Further comment from us would just seem churlish.

Would you let your teenager...

...prescribe Tamiflu?

An NHS call centre is employing 16-year-olds to assess suspected cases of swine flu.

They earn up to £16.40 an hour reading out a prepared script of questions.

It is their responsibility to hand out powerful anti-viral drugs such as Tamiflu - known to have violent side-effects.

Read more: here

PCS Pay Update No 20 - August 2009

Update on negotiations

MoD management have failed to make any attempts to resolve our pay dispute and have not offered any meetings on this matter.

Members will be aware that we invited Susan Scholefield. Director of Civilian Personnel to meet with PCS members impacted by pay and pension cuts. She has however declined our offer and is not willing to talk to members. Instead she has suggested a meeting with the MoD pay team responsible for devising the cuts to members pay.

We are now writing to the Secretary of State for Defence with a request that he meet with members so that he can understand the impact on our lives of the imposed pay and pension cuts. We are also suggesting that he directly intervenes in this dispute and helps address the concerns of PCS members. We will report his reply back to members.

Pay Data

A number of members have asked that we point out the different pay rates that now exist in the Department. We are happy to do so and these are set out below:

Position
Maximum salary – the ‘rate for the job’
E2 Pay Band Maxima
£17,072 (cut from £19,315)
E1 Pay Band Maxima
£20,074 (cut from £23,534
MoD – SCS grade 1*
£116,000 (no cut proposed)
MoD – SCS grade 3*
£205,000 (no cut proposed)
Permanent Under Secretary*
£174,999 (no cut proposed)
Secretary of State for Defence*
£141, 866 (no cut proposed and does not include expenses etc)

*Figures from the Office of Manpower Economics website

Please note that:

!. The MoD management view of the above salaries is that those of staff working at E1 and E2 are ‘too high’ and therefore need to be cut.
2. These figures do not include bonus payments. This year MoD is proposing the following arrangements for the bonus (maximum payments achievable):

E2 staff - £360 before tax.
E1 staff - £390 before tax
MOD SCS grade 3 - £22,000 before tax
Permanent Under Secretary - can achieve a bonus of up to 20% (£34,000) of his basic salary, before tax.

PCS Legal Action

Our union is continuing to progress a major legal challenge to the imposed pay cuts for our members. All members impacted have been asked to complete a complaint letter and to complete an individual grievance and lodge this with the department. If you haven’t already done so, we would urge you to do this now.

We will notify member shortly of the arrangements for the grievance hearings and we hope that every member will attend the hearings.

12 Employment Tribunal claims are being lodged this month and we will notify members of the dates for the Department’s appearance in front of the Tribunal as soon as we can.

National Pay Campaign and Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS)

PCS members in the MoD will continue to play a full role in the national PCS campaign that you will be consulted about during the next few months.

Members will be aware that PCS, with the other civil service unions, have been in negotiations with the Cabinet Office about this scheme since the autumn of last year. The published proposals have not been agreed with the unions.

The proposals are an outrageous attempt to cut people’s jobs on the cheap at a time when many are worried about job security. They amount to a cut in accrued and contractual rights to decent redundancy compensation at a time when we can clearly see that tens of thousands of jobs are at risk over the next few years.

They would mean a huge financial loss amounting to tens of thousands of pounds for the vast majority of existing staff, particularly those facing redundancy, whether that be compulsory or voluntary. The proposals will be considered at an emergency meeting of the PCS National Executive Committee (NEC) on 6th August. The NEC is determined to defend members' rights and will consider all options.

We will be seeking to meet Cabinet Office ministers and, considering the detailed and positive legal advice we have received, to determine whether we should seek a judicial review to halt this process.

PCS MoD Group will update members on the outcome of the NEC meeting and how this impacts our ballot for action in MoD over pay shortly.

Remember together we are stronger – ask your work friends to join our union now!

Yours sincerely
Paul Barnsley Chris Dando KC Jones
Group Secretary Group President Group Vice President

The swine are at the trough again

MPs have ignored public anger over the expenses system by quietly introducing new rules which allow them to claim up to £9,125 a year without producing any receipts. This measure has been introduced during a period of what can only be described as an overblown reaction to swine flu. It is almost as if we were being distracted!

Read the article here

Members beware

It seems that Vodaphone is charging it's customers 20 pence per minute to call the swine flu hotline. We therefore advise all members wherever possible to use a landline when contacting the SFH as it is then FREE.

However, we understand that O2, Orange and T-Mobile - have dropped charges for calls to the flu service. However, we advise all members to check with your provider before calling as some people have been waiting in excess of 45 minute for calls to be answered! That could cost a Vodaphone customer £9.00!!!