Dear Colleagues (and potential colleagues),

The purpose of this post is to inform members of the PCS strike action across the Civil Service on the 15th of October 2014. 

The action will be coordinated with unions representing workers in the health service which have announced action on Monday, 13th October, and with unions in local government which have announced a strike on 14th October so that there will be 3 consecutive days of strike action over pay in the public sector.

PCS has done everything possible to try and resolve the disputes over the extreme pay restraint yet again imposed by the employer. Unfortunately to date there has not been an acceptable outcome from the Government.

In the four years between 2010 and 2013, the cost of living rose faster than Civil Service pay each year. Figures released by the Civil Service show that average (median) pay increased by only 6 per cent during these four years. The cost of living, prices, housing and other costs rose by 16 per cent, meaning that the average Civil Servant is around £2,300 worse-off than in 2010. This doesn’t even take into account the Public Sector Workers’ tax.

PCS has submitted a pay claim for 2014 demanding:

• An end to the government imposed pay freeze/cap
• A Minimum 5% or £1,200 consolidated pay increase
• Short pay scales and pay progression as a right for all staff
• No discriminatory performance pay
• Closing the  pay gaps within and across departments
• The Living Wage to underpin all pay policies and contracts

We are not on our own taking action against the Government’s attacks on our Pay and living standards. On 10th July 2014 PCS members took co-ordinated strike action with union members in local government, education and the fire service over pay and our national campaign issues. The campaign continues with now local government workers and health service workers also taking strike action in October 2014.

Potential Members
If you have not yet joined your Union, please complete the form here to join.

TUC Rally - 18.10.14

PCS NW Regional Office has supplied the following information:

The TUC is calling for a huge march and rally in London on Saturday 18 October 2014 to support our claim that: BritainNeeds A Pay Rise.

As you would expect PCS is fully supporting the demonstration and we will again be looking to arrange transport to the event from various locations across the North West.

Inevitably places will be strictly limited and allocated on a first come first served basis - once again, more details will follow as soon as we have a clearer idea of what is available.

Regards

Lee Hammond

Administrator

PCS North West

If you would like to attend the rally please contact

us in the Branch office on x62858 or email us.

Civil Service-Wide Overtime Ban

OVERTIME BAN FROM 11TH JULY TO 31ST JULY 2014.

The purpose of this post is to inform members of the overtime ban following on from the PCS strike action across the Civil Service and many other Public Sector areas on the 10th July 2014 that there is now a Civil Service wide overtime ban in place from 11th July to 31st July 2014.

Across the UK, pay cuts have damaged the economy and caused real hardship for millions of people. If pay had kept pace with inflation, average civil service pay would be £2,300 higher than it is now. But the government has announced that the pay cap will continue in 2014 and 2015 and possibly beyond.

PCS have submitted a pay claim to the Cabinet Office, which seeks a £1,200 or 5% pay increase. Further details of the claim are set out below.

PCS have sought central talks on our claim. Now is the time for members to get behind this campaign as we go from strength to strength in challenging the government’s low pay agenda. Working with other unions the joint action on 10th July 2014 is only be the beginning, with targeted action and potentially more joint union action, as well as a mass TUC-organised protest on 18 October 2014.

PCS has submitted a pay claim for 2014 demanding:

• An end to the government imposed pay freeze/cap
• A Minimum 5% or £1,200 consolidated pay increase
• Short pay scales and pay progression as a right for all staff
• Closing the pay gaps within and across departments
• No discriminatory performance pay
• The Living Wage to underpin all pay policies and contract

SUPPORT THE CIVIL SERVICE-WIDE OVERTIME BAN UNTIL 31st JULY 2014

Diredt Debit - Make the Switch

Important Information – Please take a few minutes to read this.

 

PCS is asking all members to sign up to pay their union subscriptions by Direct Debit. Currently almost all of you have your union subs deducted from your salary.

This is called ‘check off’

 

OK but why do it now?

Because the government is threatening to end check off and we have to be ready and not caught on the hop. Because 97% of our 260,000 members pay their union subs by check off it is how the union gets its money to represent and campaign for you. If check off is stopped we must have a quick ready way of collecting your subs. PCS must be financially independent and free to represent you. 

PCS will keep your details safe and secure

PCS already holds a lot of personal details about you as part of your membership records. We keep all personal data completely secure and confidential. PCS has signed up to the legally binding Direct Debit Guarantee scheme to give you data protection financial security. It is no different from any other Direct Debit you have for insurance, gas or electric. 

What will happen once I have sign up to DD

PCS HQ will upload your direct debit details onto the PCS computer system alongside all of the other details we already hold for you. But your direct debit won’t be activated until the removal of ‘check off’ is notified to us by the DWP or PCS nationally decides. You will not have two deductions in one month; PCS will ensure all payments are correct. You will be told when DD will begin.

Is it easy to do?

YES you can do it quickly by going to the PCS website and do it on line - there is a contact number if you get stuck but it is very easy to do (and quick).

Why should I stay in PCS

Because being in the union means you are protected. If you have to have an interview about your sick record PCS will help you. If you are not happy about your appraisal report PCS will help you. The union offers legal advice and an excellent personal injury compensation scheme in case you or a member of your family has an accident at work or at home. But these benefits are only for union members.

Because being in the union means you have a strong voice at work. Strike action won improvements in DWP contact centres. Just a YES vote for strike action forced the DWP to drop the threat of compulsory redundancies. PCS won over £1 million pounds for fixed term staff made redundant by the DWP. Every time we campaign and take action we win improvements. Because PCS is now campaigning for fair pay for us all.

Ex-gurkha soldiers to picket MoD and Serco during strikes over zero hours contracts

DSG 20 March action briefing 3 - The best available terms and conditions

Members will by now be aware of the threats to all of our terms and conditions and the decision taken by our union to take action on 20 March to defend these hard earned terms and conditions.

Rather than negotiating with our union and trying to defuse the situation, last week the head of the civil service Sir Bob Kerslake, and minister for the cabinet office, Francis Maude, sent out an inflammatory letter stating, “When we talk to civil servants, terms and conditions are often raised. The Civil Service will continue to offer employment terms that are among the best available.”

Defence Sector members may also have seen the interview with the aforementioned Sir Bob Kerslake in the recent Defence Focus magazine where he said, “ By any measure I think we can be seen as a good employer.

Is the MoD a good employer?

Our union decided to investigate further to see how good employers from the private sector treat their employees. Every year since 2001, the Sunday Times have been publishing the 'Best Companies to Work For' list. This year 896 businesses registered to take part.

Below are two companies from the top 25 big companies list with comparable workforces to the Ministry of Defence -

Iceland (frozen food retailer) – No 2 on the list with 23,763 employees 

Comments on company website

Iceland is second to none when it comes to staff Wellbeing; work relationships expressed in our survey factors My Team and My Manager, good Leadership and a Fair Deal. People don’t just like working for Iceland. They love it.

(79%).93% of our retail employees told us that they are proud to work for Iceland, 90% feel a strong sense of belonging in the company, 93% enjoy the work they do, 95% consider that their manager treats them fairly and with respect, and 94% would recommend Iceland as a good place to work.

On our management more generally, 73% feel that senior management listen to them and 81% are confident in their leadership skills, which were both the top scores in the UK. Staff also agree that Iceland is run on strong values (80%) and that senior managers truly live those values.

In October 2011 our 22,000 front line staff shared in an industry-beating and inflation-busting £14.6 million pay award, which delivered store staff an average pay increase of 6.3% and a maximum possible increase of 45.5%, while home delivery drivers received an average increase of 13.1% and a maximum possible increase of 22.1%.

In addition to a friendly work environment and high levels of job satisfaction our overall Fair Deal ranking of 80%, up 14 points on 2011, was simply the best in the UK.

The 500-strong team at head office in Deeside benefits from one of the best staff restaurants anywhere: the Roxy, The prices are truly exceptional, with lunch costing between £1.95 and £2.50 for a main course, including a wide choice of vegetables or salads to accompany it. Fresh fruit is provided free at the The Roxy and staff who over-indulge can work off their excesses through free membership of a local gym.

PWC (Professional services) – No 11 on the list with 15,980 employees 

Comments on company website

One of the strengths of our firm is the breadth of what we do and the flexibility and variety we are able to offer our people.

Attracting the best talent calls for more than just a good financial package and stimulating work. From flexible hours and career breaks to job sharing and homeworking, we're committed to providing a truly healthy work life balance. To facilitate this choice and maximise flexibility we offer 'PwC Lifestyle' - a web-based source of self-help ideas, information and tools to help employees make lifestyle decisions, cope with different life events and generally make the best use of their time both at work and outside. 'Lifestyle' covers such areas as:

• Caring and parenting
• Work-life integration
• Your health and fitness (including playing sports)
• Your finances
• Managing time and stress

We go out of our way to give them the respect and recognition they deserve - which means offering stimulating work, investing in continuous professional development, ongoing coaching and constructive feedback, and by maintaining fair, transparent promotion processes.

PwC's diversity strategy recognises people's differences in terms of gender and ethnicity, social and educational background and individual personalities. We are committed to ensuring all our existing and potential staff, clients and suppliers are treated with respect irrespective of their background, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, race (including colour, nationality and ethnic origin), religion, beliefs or disability.

MoD Your Say survey results

In comparison to the above the recent MoD Your Say survey details –

• 9% believe that when changes are made in the MoD, they are usually made for the better.
• 16% have confidence in the decisions made by the MoD’s senior managers.
• 29% would recommend the MoD as a great place to work.
• Only 18% believe senior managers will take action on the results of this survey.
• 8,263 people said they had experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination in the workplace in the last 12 months.

The Sunday Times introduction to this article says, “Enlightened and forward-looking business leaders are investing in the wellbeing and motivation of their most valuable assets: their employees. And in a tough economic climate this makes sense: support them and they will support you.”

Our union is in full agreement with this statement; unfortunately this government and the MoD appear to believe the best way to value their own employees is with pay freezes, increased pension contributions; a denigration of their terms and conditions and a culture of intimidation.

Conclusion

We are often told that as public sector workers we should adopt the best practices of the private sector. In some cases we should – the examples above show that the private sector values and treat their employees fairly as it adds and support their business; the civil service on the other hand does not

On 20 March, take strike action and demand that the governments own employees are treated with dignity and respect. We deserve fair pay; we are entitled to decent pensions and we are worth top quality terms and conditions.

DEFEND YOUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS - ALL OUT ON 20 MARCH

Bang Goes the Theory

How neoliberalism trashed your life, but made the super-rich even richer


By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 15th January 2013


How they must bleed for us. In 2012, the world’s 100 richest people became $241 billion richer(1). They are now worth $1.9 trillion: just a little less than the GDP of the United Kingdom.


This is not the result of chance. The rise in the fortunes of the super-rich is the direct result of policies. Here are a few: the reduction of tax rates and tax enforcement; governments’ refusal to recoup a decent share of revenues from minerals and land; the privatisation of public assets and the creation of a toll-booth economy; wage liberalisation and the destruction of collective bargaining.


The policies which made the global monarchs so rich are the policies squeezing everyone else. This is not what the theory predicted. Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman and their disciples – in a thousand business schools, the IMF, the World Bank, the OECD and just about every modern government – have argued that the less governments tax the rich, defend workers and redistribute wealth, the more prosperous everyone will be. Any attempt to reduce inequality would damage the efficiency of the market, impeding the rising tide that lifts all boats(2). The apostles have conducted a 30-year global experiment and the results are now in. Total failure.


Before I go on, I should point out that I don’t believe perpetual economic growth is either sustainable or desirable(3). But if growth is your aim – an aim to which every government claims to subscribe – you couldn’t make a bigger mess of it than by releasing the super-rich from the constraints of democracy.


Last year’s annual report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development should have been an obituary for the neoliberal model developed by Hayek and Friedman and their disciples(4). It shows unequivocally that their policies have created the opposite outcomes to those they predicted. As neoliberal policies (cutting taxes for the rich, privatising state assets, deregulating labour, reducing social security) began to bite from the 1980s onwards, growth rates started to fall and unemployment to rise.


The remarkable growth in the rich nations during the 1950s, 60s and 70s was made possible by the destruction of the wealth and power of the elite, as a result of the Depression and the second world war. Their embarrassment gave the other 99% an unprecedented chance to demand redistribution, state spending and social security, all of which stimulated demand.


Neoliberalism was an attempt to turn back these reforms. Lavishly funded by millionaires, its advocates were amazingly successful: politically(5). Economically they flopped.


Throughout the OECD countries, taxation has become more regressive: the rich pay less, the poor pay more(6). The result, the neoliberals claimed, would be that economic efficiency and investment would rise, enriching everyone. The opposite occurred. As taxes on the rich and on business diminished, the spending power of both the state and poorer people fell, and demand contracted. The result was that investment rates declined, in step with companies’ expectations of growth(7).


The neoliberals also insisted that unrestrained inequality in incomes and flexible wages would reduce unemployment. But throughout the rich world both inequality and unemployment have soared(8). The recent jump in unemployment in most developed countries – worse than in any previous recession of the past three decades – was preceded by the lowest level of wages as a share of GDP since the second world war(9). Bang goes the theory. It failed for the same obvious reason: low wages suppress demand, which suppresses employment.


As wages stagnated, people supplemented their incomes with debt. Rising debt fed the deregulated banks, with consequences of which we are all aware. The greater inequality becomes, the UN report finds, the less stable the economy and the lower its rates of growth. The policies with which neoliberal governments seek to reduce their deficits and stimulate their economies are counter-productive.


The impending reduction of the UK’s top rate of income tax (from 50% to 45%) will not boost government revenue or private enterprise(10), but it will enrich the speculators who tanked the economy: Goldman Sachs and other banks are now thinking of delaying their bonus payments to take advantage of it(11). The welfare bill approved by parliament last week will not help to clear the deficit or stimulate employment: it will reduce demand, suppressing economic recovery. The same goes for the capping of public sector pay. “Relearning some old lessons about fairness and participation,” the UN says, “is the only way to eventually overcome the crisis and pursue a path of sustainable economic development.”(12)


As I say, I have no dog in this race, except a belief that no one, in this sea of riches, should have to be poor. But staring dumbfounded at the lessons unlearned in Britain, Europe and the United States, it strikes me that the entire structure of neoliberal thought is a fraud. The demands of the ultra-rich have been dressed up as sophisticated economic theory and applied regardless of the outcome. The complete failure of this world-scale experiment is no impediment to its repetition. This has nothing to do with economics. It has everything to do with power.


www.monbiot.com

From the mouths of babes and Tories

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate, and I congratulate my hon. Friend Ian Swales on securing it. I wish to discuss an area that has not been so deeply explored this evening, although it is the area where we are not as powerless as we are in so many areas of this debate because of international obligations. I wish to focus on companies in receipt of money from taxpayers under Government contracts.

I have undertaken a study of technology companies that benefit from taxpayers’ money under Government contracts and have found that Oracle, Xerox, Dell, CSC and Symantec paid no corporation tax whatsoever last year, despite earning more than £474 million from Government contracts and having a UK turnover of £7 billion. Overall, my study of 10 technology companies in receipt of more than £1.8 billion of taxpayers’ money found that they paid just £78 million in taxes on UK earnings of just over £17.5 billion of turnover. On the basis of group profitability—we are looking at the consolidated international group here—the 10 technology

companies would have made more than £3.3 billion in profits in the UK, resulting in a tax liability of £879 million. The UK tax actually paid was just £78 million, so, according to my research, the tax gap was £801 million.

We are seeing big business tax avoidance on an industrial scale. To me, it is unacceptable, unethical and irresponsible. Hard-pressed families are struggling to get by and to pay their taxes—and they do pay their taxes—so it is quite wrong that highly profitable businesses abuse our tax system. We urgently need reform. No Government contracts should be awarded to businesses that are fleecing our tax system, and the Government should examine how much UK tax companies pay when deciding who gets plum Government contracts. If taxpayers’ money and a Government contract are being awarded, we should look at the taxpayers’ money we are paying out and the tax money that we get back when we assess the value for the nation of awarding a particular contract. If, for example, a Government contract for £500 million is awarded to a computer company, it should be asked what tax it pays. If it pays zero tax in the UK, and another company is paying £40 million in tax in the UK and says that it will do the work for £520 million, the balance of best value shifts. We should consider the question holistically, rather than simply thinking about how much the contract should be let for.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2013-01-07c.77.0&s=Charlie+Elphicke+2013-01-07..2013-01-07+speaker%3A24777#g113.0

Defence Sector Group

DSg/MB/57/12

TO:	All PCS MoD members Cc PCS MOD Group Executive Committee
Date:	24th September 2012

Pay 2012 update No 7

Our union has raised our concerns over the imposed changes to performance pay with the Permanent under Secretary, Jon Thompson. Although he had sympathy with staff who had already seen their take home pay reduced and their pensions attacked (with more of both to follow) and he understood the damaging impact on morale; he confirmed that the Department had been handed the proposals by the Secretary of State to implement.

We have asked PUS to assist us in meeting with the Secretary of State to discuss our concerns about this imposition. We have also invoked the dispute resolution procedure over the imposition of performance pay.

You can see the impact of the imposed cuts in the following table:

Reporting periods	2009/10 and 2010/11			2011/12
	Standard	Higher	Top	Standard	Enhanced
B1	1085	2820	5635	870	1740
B2	850	2255	4510	730	1460
C1	655	1690	3385	610	1220
C2	535	1410	2820	500	1000
D	430	1130	2255	410	820
E1	390	780	1025	350	700
E2	360	720	925	310	620
Average distribution	74%	18%	6%	84%	13.5%

Members who have not received a payment because they have not had a report raised on them should raise an informal grievance against their line management chain.

It is clear that further progress on this issue must come through our Fair Deal in Defence campaign. We will be starting a ballot in support of Fair Deal on 1^st October. Make sure your voice is heard; attend any meetings in your workplace and vote for a fairer future.

Paul Bemrose

Acting Group Secretary

PCS Industrial Unit 2, 160 Falcon Road, London, SW11 2LN Tel: 020 7801 2645 Fax: 020 7801 2620

www.pcs.org.uk/mod www.defencecutscost.blogspot.com www.twitter.com/defencecutscost