Call me Daves Latest Idea: Take A Pay Cut For Charity

Prime Minister David 'Call Me Dave' Cameron made an astonishing attempt today to relaunch his "Big Society" con by urging workers to take a pay cut for charity.

"It's what fires me up in the morning," he declared in his fifth attempt to relaunch the much-ridiculed scheme.

Creating a bigger society "is what is in my heart."

Mr Cameron urged Britain's hard-pressed workers to take a further cut in living standards by giving money to charity as a weekly or monthly deduction from their regular pay.

"With employers, as part of Every Business Commits, we will launch a major new campaign to promote payroll giving," he said in a speech in Milton Keynes.

The multimillionaire Prime Minister boasted that every Cabinet minister would contribute to the Big Society by "giving at least a day a year volunteering."

In the shadow of a wave of cuts threatening Britain's public services and workers' wages, the government launched a "giving white paper" to encourage more donations to charity yesterday.

New technology will be introduced to enable people to give money to charity when using high-street cash machines.

Mr Cameron said the white paper "sets out how we are going to encourage a stronger culture of giving in Britain, with more people giving more money and more time to good causes around us."

Aware that references to his con trick have been greeted with sniggers even on the Tory benches in Parliament, Mr Cameron insisted: "The Big Society is not some fluffy add-on to more gritty and more important subjects."

Public services, he said, would be "opened up" by putting the people who use them in the driving seat and "calling on our charities, social enterprises and private companies to get involved."

In welfare provision, school reform, the NHS or prisons, state monopolies would be broken up and opened up to new providers, who would be paid "by the results they achieve."

He proclaimed: "This is a whole new way of looking at public service delivery - the modern way, the 21st century way, the Big Society way."

In the past, the left had focused on the state and the right focused on the market, Mr Cameron argued.

"We're harnessing that space in between - society - the hidden wealth of our nation."

rogerbagley@peoples-press.com

So let's get this right; we get a pay freeze, attacks on our jobs and pensions, extra VAT and fuel duty to pay... but somehow we are expected to give more to charity? Wel done Dave, Dminus for effort, but really, must try harder lad.

Vote Yes, Yes to protect your pension

CWU Call for general strike

The TUC came under pressure today to call a 24-hour general strike against the coalition government's all-out assault on workers and future generations "before it's too late."

Communication Workers Union delegates in Bournemouth unanimously passed a motion urging the union organisation to mobilise for a general strike against the "ideological" spending cuts even as thousands of postal workers across London voted to go on strike in protest at job losses and mail centre closures.

Senior deputy general secretary Tony Kearns said the national executive committee had decided to unanimously back the motion "because we believe it's time for us to make up our mind."

He said unions should not be deterred from exercising their basic right to take collective action because of "legal implications" when workers in countries such as Colombia were being imprisoned, tortured and murdered for asserting that very right.

"If we don't take action now, there will be nothing left to fight for," eastern regional secretary Paul Moffat told delegates, who represent more than 200,000 members.

"We answered the TUC call to march for the alternative on March 26," he said, suggesting that the TUC now must defy the anti-union laws and answer the call for collective action.

Delegates condemned 13 years of Labour failure to reverse Margaret Thatcher's anti-union laws banning solidarity action and general strikes.

Midlands regional secretary Lee Barron said he was breaking the law every time he sent out letters to branch members informing them of other unions' strikes to ensure that no-one crossed picket lines.

"We'd rather break the law than break a picket," he said to cheers.

Mr Barron, who grew up in the 1980s, added: "Thatcher stole my milk, but this government is stealing my child's future. If that's not worth fighting for, I don't know what is."

Manchester clerical delegate Mark Taggart said: "The right to take collective action exists in virtually every civilised country in the world except for Britain and the US.

"We need to enshrine this right in UK law - that's my message to Ed Balls."

The shadow chancellor had addressed the conference earlier, raising eyebrows when he praised the TUC March for the Alternative in the same breath as he argued for slower cuts.

Bristol and district AMAL speaker Rob Wotherspoon dismissed Mr Balls's argument, saying: "The alternative is not slower cuts but to oppose all cuts."

Mr Wotherspoon also denounced the Con-Dem mantra that "we're all in this together," highlighting recent statistics showing that the richest 1,000 people in Britain had increased their wealth by 18 per cent in the past year.

“Without a general strike we will not be able to beat back the Tories,” he added.

South central delegate Paul Garraway added: “We marched on March 26 in unity — now it’s time to fight in unity.”

Mass industrial action is already on the cards, with hundreds of thousands of public-sector workers expected to take co-ordinated action over pensions on June 30.

UCU members have already taken part in a series of one-day walkouts at various universities, with union officials warning that more serious action may be needed.

And thousands of council workers will take industrial action this week, including strikes, in a dispute over terms and conditions, hitting refuse collection, street cleaning and other services.

louise@peoples-press.com

Vote Yes, Yes

Osborne borrowing more than ever

Public borrowing was £10bn in April - the highest figure ever recorded for that month.

So much for George Osborne's "deficit reduction" strategy - the latest figures show that borrowing is higher than ever. Today's data release by the Office for National Statistics reveals that public borrowing rose to £10bn last month, £2.7bn higher than a year ago and the worst figure ever recorded for the month of April.

PCS Open Letter to 2ND PUS – Alternatives to manpower Reductions in the CTLB

Our union recently formed a CTLB campaign sub committee to find a means to defend members’ jobs within CTLB. The letter below to 2^nd PUS (as head of CTLB) is one of our campaigning activities and has been sent as our union wants to work constructively with CTLB management to avoid job cuts in CTLB.

Our union believes that before a single job is cut, we should seek to identify such alternatives. At a time when we are told that we must accept a pay freeze and there are ongoing assaults on our pensions and compensation payments, we believe it is completely wrong to cut 25,000 civilian jobs throughout the MoD.

Whilst we await a reply from 2^nd PUS, we need help and support from PCS members in CTLB to identify further waste in CTLB. The link below gives members the opportunity to view what MoD spends externally on a monthly basis. Our union asks that members look through this and if they can identify wasteful spending, they let us know.

Read more here

Similarly, if members in CTLB work alongside military colleagues, consultants, contractors or agency staff who are doing civilian work they should let us know.

There is an alternative to job cuts, pay freezes, pension cuts and cuts to our compensation scheme. Please play a part in our union to help identify these alternatives.

Dougie Brownlie PCS CTLB lead

Dear Jon, (Day 2nd PUS)

PCS OPEN LETTER TO 2^ND PUS – ALTERNATIVES TO MANPOWER REDUCTIONS IN CTLB

After his meeting with the trade unions on 4^th March 2011, the defence secretary wrote to the unions confirming what was agreed at the meeting. In his letter he stated, “…if you are able to offer credible alternative proposals that may realise equivalent savings and might reduce the need for manpower reductions, I would happily consider them.” In the covering note to the letter it states, “…to engage positively with the TU’s on any alternatives that they suggest”.

As you will be aware, in tandem with the six monthly CTLB Whitley’s, the trade unions meet Louise Tullett (Director CTLB) and Steve Hall (CTLB HRBP) on a monthly basis. These meetings are welcome and productive and at that level, we have already started the process of building an alternative to civilian job cuts in CTLB. The purpose of this letter is to seek your agreement for resource to be given to a joint TU/management team to fully research and cost possible alternatives in CTLB.

Although not an exhaustive list, PCS has already identified the following as potential budgetary savings measures –

1. Removal of unnecessary consultants, contractors or agency staff in CTLB who are employed to do jobs that either used to be or could now be done by civilians.
2. Service personnel being employed to do jobs that either used to be or could now be done by civilians. PCS believe that MoD wide there are approximately 40,000 non-deployable military personnel costing on average 40% more than an equivalent civilian. Not only is civilianisation cheaper for defence and the taxpayer, it frees up these military personnel to do the job they have been trained to do.
3. CTLB contracts that charge ridiculous amounts for items or services, such as the recent £22 light bulb.

The coalition government’s transparency policies ensure that all departments now publish external spending over £25,000. MoD spending is now freely available on the MoD website and can be broken down into TLB spending. CTLB spent £49,862,946.35 in February this year on 406 separate items. As an example, this includes £56,490.40 for limousine hire. Not only does this appear to be outwith the wider coalition government’s policies on travel, it is at a time when first class travel is banned in MoD (despite entitlement) and we are extending the Commitment Control Regime in CTLB.

As you would expect, PCS would like to investigate every single item of external spend in CTLB. We also wish to investigate every use of consultants, contractors or agency staff in CTLB; we wish to re-evaluate every non-deployable military officer position in CTLB and we wish to look through the contracts let by CTLB to see if they can realise savings. We believe all of this work should be a joint project between CTLB and the trade unions.

Civilian staff in CTLB, and the wider MoD, play an absolutely vital role in supporting the front line. On many occasions, this may not be visible to the general public or the media, but I’m sure we can agree that without the civilian support, the front line could simply not operate. Many civilian staff have dedicated their entire working careers to our department and care deeply about the Ministry of Defence. Whilst PCS accept that as head of CTLB, you have little or no influence over issues such as the pay freeze, civil service compensation scheme or pensions, you can have a huge influence on the number of future civilian jobs in CTLB.

Therefore, I would request that in line with the defence secretary’s recommendations, you resource and set up a joint trade union/management team that can attempt to make the necessary financial savings without seeking recourse to civilian job cuts in CTLB.

I look forward to hearing from you regarding this.

Treasury taken for a ride?

The Boy George fails again.

When the government agreed the Project Merlin deal with the banks, George Osborne promised that the top five banks would make "much more money available" to small and medium-sized businesses. But the Bank of England's quarterly lending data report shows that they've fallen at the first hurdle.

The Merlin deal included a pledge by the banks to make £76bn of credit available to business this year, implying a quarterly rate of £19bn. But today's figures show that gross lending in the first quarter of 2011 was just £16.8bn, £2.2bn short of the coalition's target.

However, gross lending figures, which take no account of loan repayments by businesses, are a poor guide to how the banks are performing. They could issue £76bn of credit but fund this by calling in old loans. As a pre-coalition Vince Cable argued in March 2010, gross targets let the banks "off the hook"

"It's perfectly possible for banks to achieve a gross lending target while withdrawing capital from small to medium-sized businesses," he noted. "Even if they have a gross target, what assurances do we have that it will be enforced, because the banks have been running rings round the government so far?"

Today's report shows that net lending fell by £2.8bn in the first quarter of this year (revised up from £2.5bn). In other words, under the only measure that counts, the banks are lending less, not more, to small businesses. It's for this reason that the coalition agreement promised that the government would consider "net lending targets for the nationalised banks". But the feeble Project Merlin did not include any targets for net lending.

The banks will undoubtedly blame subdued demand from business and will point out that the lending figures fluctuate from quarter to quarter. As things stand, however, Lord Oakeshott's warning that the banks "have taken the Treasury for a ride" looks all too accurate.

Published 23rd May New Statesman

Talks reveal scale of pension robbery

Talks with Ministers have revealed the shocking scale of the pension cuts palnned by the ConDem government for the public sector. Cuts have been proposed that could save the government tens of billions, and mean the overall value of public sector pensions is cut by a third. The proposed changes include:

- A doubling or tripling of contributions - to raise £2.8bn to help pay the defecit caused by the bankers.
- Raising the pension age from 60 to 65 and then to 68.
- Forced ending of all current final salary schemes and transfer for future services onto 'career average' pension scheme
- Government modelling, that shows that future pensions will be designed to deliver between 20-50% less than current civil service final salary schemes.

We face the worst ever attack on public sector terms and conditions. The talks have revealed there is currently little room for negotiation, as ministers are committed to implementing the Hutton report in full.

Vote Yes, Yes

PCS and Unison joint statement

Working together to fight the cuts and promote public services

PCS and Unison are committed to working together to fight cuts and promote public services. This will involve campaigning, co-ordinating and, where possible, taking action in unity and support of each other.

The attack launched by this government on public services and the welfare state is unprecedented and unjustified. In freezing pay, slashing jobs and attacking pensions the government is seeking to make public service workers, and everyone who relies on the services they provide, pay for the deficit caused by the financial sector – whose benefits, bonuses and tax concessions remain largely unchanged.

There is an alternative

The cuts to welfare entitlements and public services will be detrimental to the vulnerable, to the quality of service and to the economy. There is an alternative, as set out in UNISON’s ‘Alternative Budget’ and the ‘The PCS alternative to cuts’:

Protect and create jobs to secure the economic recovery

Tax the banks, big business and the super-rich, with a crackdown on evasion and avoidance

End wasteful spending on Trident, consultants, agency staff and the costs of privatisation

Involve staff, unions, service-users and communities in developing an alternative agenda for a sustainable economy and fairer society.

What we will do together

At national level PCS and UNISON will establish a Liaison group to promote joint activity and co-ordinate our joint campaign. This liaison group will co-ordinate a joint approach to TUC public sector campaign activity. The liaison group will also promote, build and co-ordinate public sector alliances across central and local government, and co-operation in terms of communications and media strategy, including press releases, leaflets and sharing resources.

To highlight the alternative to the government's budget cuts and promote public services, PCS and UNISON will jointly organise a “There is an Alternative” event in later 2010 or early 2011. This will bring together trade unionists, politicians, academics, voluntary and community groups. The aim will be to raise awareness that there is an alternative economic strategy to the cuts and develop a broad coalition to fight the cuts and promote public services.

At regional level the unions develop practical ways of supporting joint campaigns. This will include twinning officers and organisers, developing regional campaign teams, regional events and road shows, and developing links with voluntary and groups. The aim will be to build and support regional public sector alliances across central and local government.

At local level we will develop and support links between members and activists. This will include joint workplace meetings, joint public leafleting, locally organised town meetings and joint community activities.

United we stand

The government's cuts agenda will devastate public services and undermine the fabric of the welfare state.

Working together over 1.5 million union members will be united to fight the cuts to public services. Working together we can present our economic alternative to the coalition cuts agenda to the public.

Miliband loses way in speech

Labour leader grabs empty lines from party 'blues'

Labour leader Ed Miliband uttered a stunningly empty call for a new "national mission" at the weekend.

In a polite speech to the annual conference of Blairite think tank Progress, Mr Miliband spectacularly failed to announce detailed policies.

He suggested that "people want more from us" and urged attention to the needs of "millions of people in the middle."

Mr Miliband made soothing noises about the latest fad of "Blue Labour" promoted by Labour peer Maurice Glasman.

The party needed to understand what really mattered to people, ventured the Labour leader.

"It goes to the heart of what Maurice Glasman calls Blue Labour.

"Some have presented this as a nostalgic vision of the past. The Labour equivalent of warm beer, leather on willow and bicycling maidens.

"I think this is to wholly misunderstand what this is about.

"It starts from what we see in our country. A sense of people being buffeted by storm winds blowing through their lives.

"A fear of being overpowered by commercial and bureaucratic forces beyond our control.

"And a yearning for the institutions and relationships we cherish most to be respected and protected."

Mr Miliband hastened to add that this did not mean that every pub could be saved from closure and every high street preserved in aspic. "And we can't stop the takeover of all British companies," he added.

Since 2003 those at the top had seen their living standards rise "at extraordinary rates" while most people had seen their living standards stagnate, including middle-income people in the south of England and elsewhere.

"And it is through this squeeze on the middle, this new inequality, that we need to understand issues like immigration and responsibility.

"Eastern European immigration did place downward pressure on wages. People can argue about the extent. We were too relaxed about that."

Mr Miliband argued that fairness and social responsibility would be achieved by "thinking radically and building a better capitalism - one that is true to our values as a country."

While admitting that Labour's election results in Scotland were "terrible," he rejected the "politics of pessimism," adding that the party faced three "deep" challenges: "How we can enable everyone to get on.

"How we can protect and enhance the British promise for the next generation. And how we preserve the things people value."

Published by The Morning Star 22nd May

Fat Cats and Fat Cheques

The Myths, The Realities

'Beings a CEO is risky, so they need to be compensated'

Hardly. Only six CEOs left FTSE100 companies in 2009, a turnover rate of 6% which is less than half the national average.

'Big pay packets are linked to business success'

What about bumper pay for the bankers that caused the crisis? Over the past 10 years CEO pay has quadrupled while share prices have fallen.

'Without big pay packets, executives will be lured abroad'

Only one FTSE 100 company has had its chief executive officer poached by a rival in the past five years - and that was by a rival British firm.

'Our high pay is in line with other leading countries'

It is significantly higher than the rest of Europe - it is less than the USA, but its CEO pay is 170% higher than the rest of the world.

'The increase in earnings at the top is in line with inflation'

No. Most salaries have gone up with inflation over the past decade, but the proportion of earnings taken by the top 0.1% rose by 64.4%.

'Big Money is needed to get the best CEOs'

That assumes most are bought in, when 59% of CEOs in the FTSE 100 were already in the company for five or more years.

' Big bonuses mean better results'

Not necessarily. Research suggests performance-related pay works only 50% of the time - and bonus culture didn't stop bankers leading us all to crisis.

Taken from The Independent on Sunday 15 May 2011

The Bosses Union Joins Our Pension Fight

"The FDA – together with other unions and organisations – has launched a legal challenge of the government's decision to switch the uprating index. We believe this switch – coming as it does on top of the other pensions threats – is wholly unacceptable and potentially illegal." Jonathan Baume, general secretary of the FDA.

The article in full from The Guardian Thursday 19th May 2011 printed below.

As senior public servant delegates gather for the FDA's annual conference today, there is little doubt that the challenges facing them and their colleagues are some of the most difficult in recent times.

What makes this period particularly difficult is the large number of simultaneous – and urgent – pressures. The civil service is no stranger to job cuts, pay freezes and budget reductions, but it is unusual for so many different pressures to be bearing down over such a short timescale.

Public sector employment fell by 2.1% – or 132,000 jobs – in 2010, with 45,000 jobs lost in the last three months alone. This acceleration is likely to continue as the effect of departmental cuts and the civil service recruitment freeze – instigated immediately after the 2010 general election – begin to bite.

But even for those remaining in employment, the outlook is tough. Job insecurity – often over long periods – threatens the well-being of public servants at all levels. This difficulty may be increased for those senior managers who are under threat of redundancy and are managing staff also faced with uncertainty about their future. In these circumstances, morale is often a further casualty.

With the consumer price index (CPI) – the government's preferred inflation measure – running at a 30-month high of 4.5%, and retail inflation at 5.2%, those civil servants whose pay has been frozen are clearly facing a substantial erosion of their living standards. Public servants have not made their career choices on the basis of financial gain. Indeed, pay comparability data prepared for the Cabinet Office shows that pay rates for senior staff are now between 21.7% and 97.6% lower than for comparable jobs in the private sector. But as inflation climbs, they are seeing their reward diminishing still further.

All these pressures are compounded by the threats to pension arrangements: the government has decided to seek higher contribution rates from members from 2012, and to reopen the 2007 settlement negotiated for new and existing senior public servants. On top of those moves is the government's unilateral decision to change the pensions' uprating index from RPI to CPI. This threatens to reduce the value of public servants' pensions substantially. Lord Hutton's independent public service pensions commission estimates that this reduction in benefits will be 15% on average, and 25% for those in the career-average scheme for newer recruits.

The FDA – together with other unions and organisations – has launched a legal challenge of the government's decision to switch the uprating index. We believe this switch – coming as it does on top of the other pensions threats – is wholly unacceptable and potentially illegal.

We seek to engage with the government to find a solution to these issues that is in the interest of our members, and secure that solution through argument and discussion. But there is understandably a great degree of – justifiable – anger among FDA members, who see the "contract" between them and the state, their employer, being shaken to its core.

PCS Conference Reports

Conference Reports 2011






Vote Yes For The Alternative

John McDonnell MP Guest Speaker at 2011 ADC

John McDonnell MP, Chair of the PCS Parliamentary Group gave a rousing speech to the 2011 ADC as our guest speaker on Thursday.

He firmly associated himself with our union and pledged himself to the coming struggle with the ConDems over our jobs, pensions, pay and conditions.

His message was, "Believe, we can win."

Tax Bombshell For VERS Recipients

DWP HQ Leeds branch moved motion A546 at the ADC today and in it exposed a tax issue for persons receiving redundancy payments since April 2011.

In a sneaky move the ConDems changed the tax treatment of payments made to an employee through PAYE after they have left employment w.e.f. 6 April 2011. These changes also encompass arrears of pay, unpaid holiday pay and redundancy and termination payments.

Essentially the payment will be initially taxed at basic rate up to threshold (£2917pm /£674pw). Any excess will be taxed at the higher rate of 40% up to threshold (£12,000pm / £2,885pw) and the AR of 50% thereafter.

Conference believes this will place an obligation upon the individual to claim the overpaid tax, and it means the Exchequer gets the money and earns interest on it rather than the individual.

Conference supported the motion calling for negotiators to seek a change to the rules.

We will provide further information as and when it becomes available. In the meantime we alert any members who have applied for VERS to carefully check with their tax office what their liability will be.

PCS Throws Down The Gauntlet

Co-ordinated strike action on an unprecedented scale planned for next month moved a step closer today when PCS delegates voted to begin a national ballot of all the union's members.

The overwhelming vote at the Civil Service union's annual conference set the stage for simultaneous industrial action by PCS as well as education unions UCU, NUT and ATL over government attacks on public-sector pensions.

The union's general secretary Mark Serwotka took to the rostrum and pledged to "fight tooth and nail" to protect workers from savage spending cuts, setting forth a strategy of industrial militancy.

Mr Serwotka said: "If we rise to the challenge then this will be an unforgettable time for our movement.

"We should defend every job, every service, every community and every benefit and oppose all cuts."

The "strike for the alternative" on June 30 could "turn the tide" against the Tory-led coalition government, he said, while other unions could join co-ordinated action in the autumn.

"Seven hundred and fifty thousand workers could walk out in June and four million in autumn.

"We are not going away."

Speaking in support of the emergency motion for the ballot, Department for Work and Pensions group organiser Fran Heathcoate said: "It wasn't long ago that it was being argued that PCS was fundamentalist because we were calling for no cuts and no job losses.

"Now we have been proved right. We have shaped the debate away from despair with a determination to beat the cuts."

Ms Heathcoate also praised the union's role in drawing in other anti-cuts forces such as direct-action group UK Uncut.

"Our attitude to the anti-cuts alliances has not only been to support them but to actively build them," she said.

"It's vital as all our work has been, and I believe we need it to build for co-ordinated action."

Communities and local government assistant group secretary Chris Hickey said the union needed "every weapon at its disposal" in order to hit the government hard.

Vicky Whittle, who works at Birmingham prison, said her fellow PCS members at the jail wanted to be balloted for industrial action over the government's determination to hand administration of the prison to G4S, a private security firm.

"We need to take this action as it allows members to come on strike and not be persecuted by a private company," she said.

Cardiff delegate Dave Bartlett invited the TUC to be the "conductor" for further action, but added: "If not we will have to take up the ballot ourselves."

Taken from The Morning Star, Wednesday 18th May

Legal Challenge to CSCS Changes

At conference today Mark Serwotka confimed that PCS legal challenge to the governments changes to the CSCS will be heard in the High Court 19-21st July.

Furthermore he confirmed tht the Condems plans on our pensions are to move the state retirement from 65 up to 68 and possibly even further. These changes are likely to impact all workers being born after 1953. Whats more, the proposed replacement to all existing civil service pensions will have the same qualifying dates and will be significantly reduced over the existing.

It is estimated that the changes will reduce the value of CS pensions by at least 30%.

Mark Serwotka addressed MoD Group Conference

Mark gave a rousing speech to the delegate conference.

In his speech he alerted delegates to ominous detail of the coalitions plans for our pensions.

Firstly they plan to freeze all the current schemes.

Secondly they intend to introduce career average pensions for any future service, but based not on 40ths as the Nuvos scheme, but rather less than half that with 80ths or even 100ths.

Furthermore they intend to introduce a 3% contribution increase on all public service pensions.

Perhaps even more worrying for those approaching 60, they intend to extend the state pension qualifying age to 68 and align public service pensions to that age also.

On top of that the change of CPI from RPI will reduce the value of many pensions by as much as 20%.

The fight begins here.

MoD Group Conference successful

The MoD Group Conference has just ended in Brighton. A successful day and a half saw all three of your delegates speak on motions submitted by the branch and with contributions on the motions of other branch's. (The photo shows Chris Senior moving motion A30 on Stress Risk Assessments.)

Veterans Agency Branch had all of its motions heard and all carried except for motion A38 that refered to suspension in disciplinary cases. This motion was asked to be remitted to the GEC as the prescriptive element in the motion referring to a cap of 3 months was thought to be potentially problematic. To avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater your delegates accepted remission of the motion.

Otherwise conference proceeded to hear all of the submitted motions this year including two emergency motions. Only two motions, A5 from Scotland West and A25 from Portsmouth Area failed to find support of conference.

The National Delegates Conference begins tomorrow.

The future is contract

Representatives of the branch joined the TUS to meet with the three bidders for SPVA's Future Contract at Centurion this week.

CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation), Capita and a consortium comprising of HP and XP (Hewlett Packard and Xafinity Paymaster) presented their bids.

Bearing in mind that PCS are fundamentally opposed to further privitisation of SPVA or indeed any public services, we at least came away with a sense of our preferred bidder.

Imagine our surprise when returning to the office we discover that Prime Minister David Cameron said on that day that CSC had been suspended from new NHS contracts while the future of the £4.7bn patient record programme is assessed.

Tory MP for Norfolk Richard Bacon said the NHS IT programme "will never deliver on its early promise, that in particular CSC has failed with Lorenzo and that, rather than squandering £4.7bn that is still unspent, the solution is to negotiate a way forward that frees up billions of pounds for the benefit of patients."

Cameron agreed and said: "There are no plans to sign any new contract with Computer Sciences Corporation until the National Audit Office report has been reviewed and until the Public Accounts Committee meetings and the Major Projects Authority reviews have taken place."

He said the Department of Health and the Cabinet Office were considering all options including terminating the contract completely.

CSC shares fell 1.6 per cent on the news.

The £12.7bn National Programme for IT has missed almost every target it set itself and broke almost every rule of successful project management.

It is perhaps to be noted also that Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) announced in an 8-K form that on January 28, 2011, the company was notified by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission that the Commission has commenced a formal civil investigation relating to company’s previously disclosed accounting adjustments in company’s Managed Services Sector segment, primarily in Europe’s Nordic region. The company said it is cooperating with the commission’s investigation.

We say that this is all just par for the course. Privitisation and PFI's have all been costly mistakes. Private companies are incompatible with our public service ethos of service first. All these mainly American companies are interested in are profits... at any cost to us, the taxpayers, and to the law it seems.

Last WW1 Veteran Dies aged 110

Read the story here

Alternative Vote referendum

THE PCS national executive is urging union members to support a switch to the alternative vote (AV) system for electing the UK parliament.

There will be a referendum on the voting system on Thursday 5 May this year – the same day as local elections in most of the country, and as the devolved assembly elections.

Delegates to the PCS annual conference in 2008 passed a resolution rejecting the current first-past-the-post method for choosing MPs and calling for a “more proportional” system “making all votes really count”.

Read more here