Monday 28 June 2010

The Fightback Begins Continued

The following motion will be discussed by the BEC.

This meeting agrees to submit the following motion to the Leicester and District Trades Union Council and the PCS NEC:

 

This meeting notes that workers in a number of countries will be involved in general strikes on Wednesday 29 September, European Day of Action.

We agree that the British TUC should now name a day for a national demonstration against the cuts and that, if it properly built for, it is possible that 29 September could become a general strike in the UK too.  

With this in mind, we recognise that there is a need for urgent campaigning and preparatory work throughout the movement; including

• supporting regional demonstrations, such as the one that has been proposed to take place in Nottingham on 4 September, and
• endorsing the call by the National Shop Stewards Network (which is supported by PCS  and a number of other unions) for a lobby of the TUC conference, if the TUC fail to call for action.
We call upon all trade union organisations and anti-cuts campaigns to ensure the largest turnout possible for events by sponsoring transport for those who wish to attend

We further recognise that these campaigning activities should be underpinned by:

• support for all actions by unions and anti-cuts campaigns in defence of public services, including individual strikes at local or national level,
• campaign activity through the wider movement and local communities,
• meetings and activities through trades councils and local trade union branches with anti-cuts campaigns to explain and build support for action,
• lobbies of councils, health boards and other employer organisations responsible for carrying through Government cuts,
 
Tell us what you think.

Saturday 26 June 2010

The Fight Back Begins

In my last post I discussed some of the problems facing PCS members and the phony war.

The good news is that PCS DWP Leicestershire General Branch is leading the fightback in Leicestershire.

We have taken the initiative in making common cause with other PCS branches, other public sector trade unions, community groups who will be affected but cuts and anyone else who wants to support our campaign.

We organised a stall at the clock tower in Leicester last Saturday. There was a petition and some street theatre. There was considerable support and interest from the public and coverage on Radio Leicester and the Leicester Mercury.

The next step is a meeting of activists on Tuesday 29 June 2010 in the Independant Arts Centre, Humberstone Gate from 19:30.

We are hoping to broaden our base to even more union branches and other groups but our branch will remain prominent.

We will be ready to fight back. It's time to join us.

The Phony War is Almost Over

The budget has taken place & the potential impact on PCS members will be huge.

The changes will hit the poorest hardest with cuts in benefits and inevitable cuts in services from government and local authorities.

For PCS members we face a pay freeze (even the protection for the lowest paid is a below inflation rise), attacks on our pensions and a 25% cut in departmental budgets will inevitably result in job cuts.

Locally the pause in the TPIP rollout is not necessarily a good thing. We could stay as we are, but on the other hand TPIP could still roll out or, even worse we could be left high and dry with nothing.

Big savings could be made by closing offices, especially with the governments keenness for privatisation to enable this, and no office is safe.

I also have no words of comfort for fraud or CMEC members.

I don't want to be a scare monger but until we know the detail of what we up against it is difficult not to speculate.

This period while we await these attacks on members I have taken to calling the phony war as the actual battles for services, jobs, pay and conditions are still to come.

We need to take this opportunity to prepare for what is to come.

Thursday 3 June 2010

Mike Burkitt

I am sad to report the death of Mike Burkitt on 24 May.

Mike was the Branch Secretary of DHSS Leicestershire SCPS (one of our forerunner unions) in the late 70s and early 80s so some of you with very long memories may have worked with him.

He retired in 2009 and was diagnosed with a brain tumour 6 months ago.

The family are asking for donations to Cancer Research UK or Brain Tumour UK.

BEC Report

Our Branch Executive Committee met yesterday.

We discussed a number of issues where we are in a period of phoney war (we are expecting attacks but we don't know exactly when or what the full extent will be).

These included TPIP, staffing and welfare cuts.

We are taking a lead to campaign and form an alliance of public sector unions to fight the cuts.

Check on this site for details of events, meetings, etc.

We were concerned about attendance management. Sickness absence is high so management are making efforts to reduce it. Our job is to make sure that staff are supported (not punished), that policies are followed correctly and that members are not forced back to work where they are too ill to do so.

We are also opposed to the letters given to staff who have nothad a day off sick in the past year. We feel that they are counterproductive, divisive, belittle the commitment of staff who have had time off and potentially are discriminatory under the Disability Discrimination Act.