PCS Left Alliance

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  • PCS National Campaign

    Hope for a National Campaign to Fight Injustices

    In May, many branch representatives left PCS conference with hope that we may have a national campaign this year to deal with the many injustices that members are being subjected to on Pay Jobs and Conditions. We had just elected a ‘Coalition for Change’ National Executive Committee and importantly a ‘Coalition for Change’ President.

    National Campaign Policy – Where is the implementation?

    National Campaign Policy was clear under motion A5 passed at this year’s conference… ‘build a campaign on the widest possible basis, designed to defeat the attacks on the civil service, and to spare no effort in preparation for the launch of a statutory ballot’.

    So where is the campaign two months from conference to deal with the injustices?

    General Secretary Delays the Campaign

    The General Secretary we believe is failing to carry out the wishes of our parliament the PCS Conference that passed motion A5 on the national campaign. Members in April in the PCS general election elected the Coalition for Change NEC the equivalent of the Cabinet, who wanted to act on the national campaign motion that came from one of their branches. Yet the General Secretary the equivalent of the Cabinet Office permanent secretary who is there to serve the NEC, our Governing body, walked out of the NEC over standing orders that she did not want to agree.

    The union was paralysed for that period. So instead of implementing conference policy on the National Campaign, we had General Secretary actively working against our Cabinet the PCS NEC in refusing to agree the standing orders that the majority NEC wanted to agree. In doing so we have lost vital time in implementing motion on the national campaign as a result.

    Democracy of the Union Needs Respecting

    The Left Alliance who are not part of the Coalition for Change, but we do believe in the democracy of the union and recognise the members elected the Coalition for Change as the majority on the NEC to carry out the wishes of conference.

    Members Losing Out on Agreed Demands at Conference

    The losers in this are us as members, instead of building that campaign members desperately need to fight the cost-of-living crisis, reach a job security agreement that protects jobs, services, offices, genuine hybrid and home working, and reaching agreements on AI. Little has been done, meanwhile the employer continues to attack us.

    Employer Continues to Attack Us – More Job Losses and Office Closures

    The lack of a fighting union has seen for example in DWP, the largest group of the union, and the General Secretary’s own back yard, many offices now being targeted for closure on mass. Staff are being told they need to move which will result in many choosing to leave the Civil Service rather than make unreasonable journeys to different offices. This is a clear strategy by DWP to reduce staffing numbers as well as closing offices and reducing accessible services with jobcentres in the communities being closed.

    Give the Branches the Tools for the Job

    Separately to this the union is still to act in giving branches, the lifeblood of the union, access to members contact details. This is needed to build fighting campaigning branches. No action has been taken by the union on the three motions passed at conference this year backing motion A226 from Conference 2025 that said branches should have access to members contact details. This is a vital change to allow branches to build bottom up with members on industrial campaign for a statutory ballot in Septembers 2026 on the national campaign in line with conference policy. Instead, the Left Unity General Secretary has failed to act on this and make this happen. Branches will rightly see this as an injustice carried forward yet again from the previous year.

    Who Controls the Union

    The question for us as members is who controls the union. We believe the members control the union. If the General Secretary does not want to follow conference policy or take instructions from the NEC of the day, she needs to resign to allow someone that does want to carry through conference policy and serve the NEC of the day.

    Injustice and Hope

    Tony Benn, a working-class leader said ‘You see there are two flames burning in the human all the time. The flame of anger against injustice, and the flame of hope you can build a better world…because people need encouragement if you are going to do the best you can.’

    The Left Alliance recognises the many injustices for us as members, and we believe the union leadership should be leading the fight and giving hope to our members. We are ordinary members first and foremost and see it first-hand the damage being done by the employer to our members. We have no rich backers, and we are not backed by outside organisations, but we believe that we can be a fighting union and call on all members to have hope and to start holding your leadership to account.

    We need a fighting union and we need it now.

    The Left Alliance believe the PCS leadership needs to implement the terms of motion A5 carried by our parliament PCS conference and start fighting back on Pay Jobs and Conditions.

    PCS need to give branches the tools for the job by implementing motion A226 so they can start talking to members about building a serious campaign with a statutory ballot as a threat if our demands are not met on Pay Jobs and Conditions.

    We need improvements now, we need a fighting leadership now, let us hold our PCS leadership to account now.

    If you are interested in knowing more about PCS Left Alliance, please email pcs.leftalliance@mail.com

  • Left Alliance Member’s Briefing

    Colleagues,

    We want to provide a clear update following recent negotiations with the Broad Left Network (BLN) and Independent Left (IL) regarding a potential electoral agreement for the 2026 DWP Group Executive Committee elections.

    As members know, Left Unity continues to dominate the DWP Group Executive. During that period, membership density has declined and confidence in the direction of the Group has weakened. That is the political context in which discussions have been taking place.

    The Background

    In the previous election cycle, a BLN–IL–LA pact secured:

    4 GEC seats

    2 Group Officer positions

    3 of the 4 pact-won seats held by Left Alliance members

    Both Group Officer positions held by Left Alliance members

    Those results demonstrate that Left Alliance has significant electoral support and credibility across DWP branches.

    On that basis, LA entered discussions seeking a balanced, proportional, and workable 3-way agreement that reflected:

    Electoral performance

    Organisational contribution

    Political accountability

    The Proposal Received

    BLN and IL jointly proposed that LA would receive:

    One Vice President position

    Group Treasurer

    Group Journal Editor

    One Ordinary Member slot

    They also refused to support Ian Brown as the incumbent Group Assistant Secretary.

    After careful consideration, Left Alliance formally rejected this proposal.

    Why We Rejected It

    In our written response, we made three points absolutely clear:

    Lack of Proportionality

    The positions offered fall significantly short of what would constitute a balanced and representative agreement. They do not reflect the actual electoral results achieved last time, nor the contribution made by LA members in office.

    Structural Issues Ignored

    We raised concerns about proportionality, accountab8ility, and the need for an alliance structure that reflects each group’s real support base. None of these concerns were meaningfully addressed in the offer.

    This was not about “more positions for LA.”

    It was about establishing an agreement based on objective political reality rather than historic hierarchy.

    Democratic Debate

    BLN and IL requested written assurance regarding public criticism.

    We made it clear:

    Left Alliance engages constructively and responsibly. However, political disagreement, expressed respectfully, is part of a healthy democratic union culture.

    Reframing legitimate debate as something requiring restriction is not consistent with the open, fighting union culture we want to build.

    Our Position Now

    As communicated formally:

    We are unable to accept the current proposal.

    It does not provide a basis for agreement.

    We remain open to further dialogue.

    Any future agreement must start from a genuine 3-way split reflecting democratic reality.

    This is not about factional pride.

    It is about fairness, transparency, and building an alliance capable of challenging stagnation within DWP.

    The Strategic Question

    The choice in front of us is clear:

    Accept a diminished role that does not reflect our mandate.

    Or insist on an agreement rooted in proportionality and democratic equality.

    We will continue to engage where there is genuine movement. But we will not accept arrangements that ignore the political reality members created at the ballot box.

    The coming weeks require discipline, clarity and collective confidence.

    Left Alliance has demonstrated it can win. The question now is whether others are prepared to recognise that reality, or whether we chart our own path forward.

    In Solidarity (please elect the below in the DWP GEC elections)

    DWP Group Executive Committee:

    President: Jill Fearn

    VP: Saorsa Tweedale

    AS: Ian Brown, Tom Wilson

    Treasurer: Emma Scott    

    Journal Editor: Paula Filipovic

    Ordinary Member:

    Lester Arscott

    Ian Brown

    Jill Fearn

    Paula Filipovic

    Andy Hill

    Craig Jenkinson

    Emma Scott

    Catherine Toomer

    Saorsa Tweedale

    Tom Wilson

  • Pay and Hybrid Working – Left Unity fail to deliver on conference policy for members!

    The move to 60% hybrid working starts this month and pay is being implemented in pay packets in this month.

    No Serious Campaign Straight after Conference

    A serious campaign should have started straight after conference in June on both pay and hybrid working. There should have been members meetings to build for action in September with a clear threat given to the employer that we will use all means possible if our conference demands were not met.

    Talks Without the Collective Mobilisation of Members

    Instead, Left Unity went into talks with management without consultation or the collective mobilisation of members. The talks were also held in secret, with negotiators not reporting back to the GEC until the talks were completed. The employer just saw the negotiators and not the membership behind them.

    The excuse given by the PCS General Secretary at a recent activist meeting in not holding members meetings before talks was along the lines off we did not know the outcomes of pay negotiations from the different bargaining areas. In doing this they have completely failed to understand the necessity to mobilise members as part of pay negotiations before, during, and after talks. We are a member’s led union after all and not a top-down leadership. We need our members mobilised behind our negotiators!

    No Campaign for Pay Restoration, Pay Progression and Pay Significantly above Minimum Wage

    Members, as we all know, continue to receive a pittance of pay for their hard work in supporting the disadvantaged in society. Our pay continues to deteriorate with ever falling living standards. Where is the serious campaign on pay restoration, pay progression and a pay rises to take all our members finally above the minimum wage? Where is the campaign material that unites and mobilises the whole union from AA to G6 in line with conference policy for action?

    Access to members Personal Emails and Mobile Numbers

    Despite the successful passing of national motion A226, Left Unity have failed to implement it, which now seriously hinders the preparation for any ballots on industrial action. 

    This is important as it gives access to branch reps to personal mobiles and personal emails so they can communicate with their members effectively. In failing to honour motion A226 and provide this information its impact  compromises reps and their ability to discuss the possible need for industrial action without the fear of disciplinary action being taken by the employer. The Left Unity leadership are clearly not serious in supporting branch reps in building for action. They are still hiding behind GDPR legislation in preventing access to branch records and yet branch reps are still trusted with extremely sensitive personal cases. Our branch reps need the tools for the job as we operate at the coal face with members. Also, the nonsense that only Full-Time Officers can be trusted with information on IT systems was highlighted with the union recently having to apologise for a mistake in issuing emails on death benefits. We all make mistakes but now is the time in giving access to members records to elected branch officials to enable them to build thriving branches communicating on all subjects with members in line with conference policy.

    Unite All Grades and Recognise the Leverage of Senior Roles to increase the size of the ‘Pay Cake’!

    At the recent GEC Left Unity in debating pay spent time attacking SEOs, G7s and G6 members of PCS until an AO member of the GEC pointed out we are meant to be a union that represents all our members, regardless of grade. The campaign should be about increasing the size of the cake, using the full leverage of the whole union rather than seeking to move money between grades. Left Unity fail to understand that the senior grades are in key positions in HQ, such digital and policy, and if their labour were to be withdrawn as part of a serious campaign on pay and hybrid working this would see the employer significantly impacted. Unity is strength.

    Hybrid Working  

    The cost of the of 60% office attendance is having a major impact on our members caring commitments and financial situation. This coupled with already poor pay and attacks our members work-life balance, with more time spent travelling which in turn impacts the climate. And whilst back-office staff have access to hybrid, in Jobcentres staff have not been given the option. And again, we see the lack of a real campaign from this Left Unity leadership to demand that Jobcentre staff have the same access to hybrid working as others.

    Reps are now being embroiled in personal cases due to the Left Unity leaderships  failure to collectivise the issue. There should have been a collective industrial response in September if our demands on pay and hybrid were not met.

    Equality is under attack. We are seeing members with reasonable adjustments being called in for reviews and forced to have OHS reviews impacting on their disabilities and work life balance.

    Carers are being expected to change their caring commitments and, in some cases, will be seeing an exponential cost of do so.

    Systems have also been developed to monitor and are in place from September to micromanage members on office attendance. More individual work for branch reps. Again, where is the collective response from the union to implement conference policy to build an industrial response .

    Transform the Union – Demand more from the failing Left Unity Leadership

    The density of the union continues to fall, linking campaigning, bargaining, and organising is essential. The union needs to be transformed with an understanding that collective campaigns with the threat of action or actual action is needed to successfully rebuild the union. Our industrious local branch reps and our members deserve better, we need a leadership that collectivises and mobilises its membership behind conference policy on pay, hybrid working and other issues.

    Demand the PCS leadership implement conference policy and fight collectively on pay and hybrid working.

     If you would like to work collectively with the Left Alliance in seeking to implement conference policy for members, please contact us using the email address pcs.leftalliance@mail.com.

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