PCS Strategic Review

Public and Commercial Services Union | pcs.org.uk

Update on the strategic review of the unionThis briefing updates branches on the Strategic Review of the structure of the union which has been agreed by the NEC. The review, as reported to branches earlier this year, is necessary to look afresh at our structures and our ways of working in order to rise to the new challenges we now face.

Our union has been under sustained pressure in recent years due to the politically-motivated attacks of the Tory-led coalition government. We are dealing with the most challenging period the union has ever faced and the Review is looking at urgent action required to stabilise the situation. The Review also aims to identify longer term changes in the union that will mean we can emerge from this period as an even stronger trade union.

This briefing sets out the context of the changing situation we are in, informs branches of the work being carried out, and describes the process for consultation throughout the union. An initial report was given to our Senior Lay Reps Forum earlier this year.

Urgent actionWe face immediate threats: check off withdrawal and job cuts in the civil service leading to membership drop, a fall in subscription income, reductions in facility time, and aggressive union busting tactics.

Our unions reps, members and staff have been inspirational in signing-up members to direct debit in an unprecedented effort. This is testament to the strength of our union and to the commitment of our activists at all levels, especially in the light of the attacks on facility time.

At the same time, these threats necessitate immediate structural changes within the organisation, including staffing reductions. This will require new ways of working and prioritisation of work. New methods of working have been under consideration as we respond to the changing environment we are in, but the reductions in staffing will clearly necessitate more rapid changes.

Long term changeThe review also presents us with an opportunity to be proactive and to develop a positive and radical response to longer term changes in the industrial relations and

Briefing no1| May 2015

political environment the growing anti-union approach of employers including the refusal of governments and other employers to engage in meaningful national bargaining, and the emergence of compliant union leaderships and other organisations within the civil service which are seeking recognition.

The longer term challenges have arisen as part of wider change in the economy. The structure of the workforce is changing with a move towards low paid, casualised work across the economy, with long term implications for public sector jobs and terms and conditions, and the possibility of significant transfers of staff between central and local government and the private sector so that our traditional areas of organisation are changing.

There have been clear trends in collective bargaining and industrial relations in the UK.

lThe percentage of workers covered by collective bargaining agreements in the UK was over 80% a generation ago, today it is less than a quarter

lNational-level bargaining still exists among some large private firms, but multi-employer collective agreements in the private sector have all but disappeared

lOver that same time period trade union membership has halved, to 25% of all employees, 14% in the private sector and 55% in the public sector.

lThe deregulation of the labour market has meant a rise in insecure work: zero hours, temporary agency work.

This situation has developed for a number of reasons. In recent decades there has been a decline of manufacturing and heavy industries where union membership and collective bargaining coverage were once among the highest. In response there has been a new emphasis on organising across the trade union movement but many unions have found it difficult to build up effective organisation and bargain with employers where insecure employment is the norm. Governments have made major legal and political interventions. The Thatcher and Major governments encouraged the break-up of industry bargaining in the private sector, decentralised bargaining in the public sector, and abolished the Wages Councils. There was a series of decisive defeats of which the defeat of the NUM in 1985 was the most significant.

Public sectorThe trend away from collective bargaining in the public sector is well established. In recent years local government employers have tried to break national agreements in order to reduce wages and weaken core conditions. There have been calls, supported by government Ministers, to end national bargaining in the health and education sectors which are being resisted by the unions.

Civil service In the civil service the decline of national bargaining and the offensive against unions was manifested as the creation of executive agencies and the system of delegation as established in the 1990s. There has been a long term move to neutralise national unions bargaining power and to adapt pay and conditions to the private sector.

The creation of agencies and delegation was also aimed at putting in place vehicles on the road to full privatisation or contracting out of services. This has been a long term trend across the public sector, breaking down the traditional public/private split in trade union organising.

Impact of changes on PCSOver the last 15 years we have reacted to the government and employers offensive and the decline of traditional bargaining by building a campaigning organisation. We are widely admired for our active campaigning work and respected for standing out against the tide when others have been quick to retreat. This has entailed supporting activists in their campaigning work, embedding a democratic and outward looking culture at all levels, directing resources towards campaigning and organising, and re-modelling the unions staffing structure.

Industrial action PCS has also consistently shown a willingness to support and encourage members fighting back with industrial action, a stance that has been rare in the TU world. Where members have taken action in recent years in their Groups and Branches there has often been success.

We have led the call for joint union strike action over public sector wide cuts in pensions and pay, and have actively created the basis for local joint campaigning of reps from different unions. As a response to the increasingly harsh cuts policies of recent governments, this is a real achievement and a progressive development which has raised the level of awareness amongst our members of the potential power of the trade union movement.

Compliant unionsOther unions have taken a different approach to dealing with the hostility of the employers. Following the joint strike action on 30 November 2011, some union leaders have adapted to the aggressiveness of the employers by becoming compliant to their demands for acceptance of deep cuts in terms and conditions. Such an approach, accompanied by the fatalistic view that industrial action cannot win concessions from governments, has led to the beginning of a breakdown in solidarity and change in traditionally agreed spheres of interest.

Bargaining structuresThe strengths of our approach have flowed largely from the clear direction taken by the unions leadership and the democratic, inclusive approach we have taken to our work which has created a large degree of unity between the majority of activists and the national leadership.

However, whilst we have built an effective campaigning organisation, the unions basic structures were established in the 1990s and remain largely unchanged. They mirror the delegated bargaining system and continue to pursue the old departmental Whitley approach to industrial relations. The experience of our negotiators at delegated level has been, by and large, that departmental management insist they do not have the latitude to desist from the centrally determined positions.

This has made a mockery of the collective bargaining process and has, again by and large, left the employer free to drive through detrimental changes without proper engagement with the trade unions. The old approach to industrial relations has increasingly existed only in form, not in content. There is a tendency for bureaucratic habits and ways of working to grow.

Member participationPart of the employers offensive has been an attempt to cut our representatives off from the members by reducing facility time and refusing meaningful bargaining. This is combined with a relentless grinding down of working conditions and an aggressive day to day management in most workplaces which has a demoralising effect. The result is to make it harder for members to play a full part in the union. PCS is much more successful than many unions in this respect, but we are a fighting trade union and we need high levels of active participation by members and reps.

Organising and bargainingAs well as building a campaigning union, we have responded to developments over the last ten years by adopting an active organising approach in contrast to the old servicing approach that merely provided financial and other services to a passive membership. The NEC has agreed that our priority should be organising in the workplace in order to exert the maximum pressure on the employer to engage in serious and meaningful negotiations with us on behalf of members. Winning concessions from the employer is our key priority as a trade union and we will continue to demand the restoration of collective bargaining rights across the civil service, major departments and non departmental public bodies.

Yet without structural change corresponding to the change to an organising union, the traditional bargaining methods and assumptions have often remained unchanged and separate from the new emphasis on organising.

Strong workplace organisationPCS must become an even stronger union at all levels if we are to re-establish meaningful national bargaining. This process of strengthening must start with the development of vibrant, active and strong workplace organisation. This means higher membership density in all workplaces, including expanding further into the commercial sector, recruiting and supporting more workplace reps who will not necessarily rely on facility time to carry out their functions, increasing the diversity of reps, and promoting greater active member participation at workplace level.

The NEC has agreed that the review will comprise five areas of work.

Strand 1 FinanceAmongst other things, this strand of the review will look at group and branch funding in order to ascertain whether changes would be appropriate to support a focus on workplace density, activity and member participation.

Strand 2 Organising The union of the future must be an organising union which can mobilise members to take part in a campaign in support of our bargaining demands. We plan to carry out a thorough health check of PCS workplaces and branches including rep coverage, types of activity, use of facility time, and diversity. There will be a consideration of digital developments which support organising in workplaces, and of the direct support given to reps, including education and resources. We will consider changes to the size and make-up of the NEC, GECs and BECs which would support organising and maximise use of facility time, and there will be a review of the devolved nation and regional committee functions and structures.

Strand 3 Membership participation Increased strength for PCS will be derived from increasing workplace density but also, and vitally, increasing members participation in the activity of the union. The Review will look at best practice in engaging members in branch and workplace activity, communications with members, changes to the make-up of BECs which would support workplace organising and more member participation, and review how we can increase participation at meetings and conferences. We will look at changes to the unions elections including alternative voting methods to boost turnout. Lastly, the Review will consider how the union at branch and workplace level can involve members in whole worker organising including community campaigning outside of their workplace.

Strand 4 Staffing and management structure This strand will look at the management of the necessarily large reduction in the number of PCS employees. Additionally, since the inception of PCS the majority of our staff have been located in London. There was some logic to this when the majority of our Negotiations Officers were in day to day contact with Whitehall based employers. But with the erosion of collective bargaining at national level, and the relocation of many Whitehall departments, there is a need to have more of our staff in the regions and devolved nations organising out in the field whilst providing appropriate support for lay negotiators.

Strand 5 Campaigning and industrial action tactics We will need to overcome the lack of national bargaining, and the burdensome legal restrictions on industrial action, by considering the best forms of action and campaigning tactics that would enable the union to continue to press for real collective bargaining and to exert greater pressure on the employer to engage in meaningful negotiations on our bargaining

objectives. We will learn lessons from the successes we have achieved in industrial campaigns in Groups and Branches. The Review will also look at what negotiating machinery we would like to see at local, departmental and national level, as well as in the commercial sector.

EqualityEquality considerations are at the core of the Review a focus on building our base in the individual workplace is an opportunity to look at how we can involve more members from the equality groups into greater activity within the union, including representation at all levels. Therefore, equality considerations will be integral to each of the five strands. There will also be an overarching review of all the unions Equality Structures.

ConsultationThe NEC is committed to consult on the Review at all levels of the union.

lA meeting of the Senior Lay Reps Forum took place in March and had an initial discussion on the scope of the review.

lAn open briefing session is being held at ADC on Monday 18 May at 6pm in Auditorium 2 of Brighton Centre, chaired by Janice Godrich, National President. The speaker is Mark Serwotka, General Secretary.

lAs part of the Review a large scale survey of branches on a number of organising issues will take place

lFollowing ADC there will be activists consultation sessions in each region.

lAt the end of July a formal document will be circulated which will identify proposed areas of change, including those where further consultation will take place and those where conference decisions in 2016 would be necessary.

The aim of the Review is to develop the union to become capable of forcing a hostile set of employers to the negotiating table in a meaningful fashion, and to continue to grow as a progressive campaigning union able to function effectively in a rapidly changing world.

The NEC thanks all reps and members for their continuing hard work for PCS at this unprecedented time and we look forward to working with members, branches and groups in taking this strategic review forward.

MARK SERWOTKA JANICE GODRICHGeneral Secretary President

The five areas of the review

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PCS has been under attack from the Tories for standing up to their brutal austerity cuts. We are fighting a concerted attempt to destabilise our finances, as well as campaigning against huge cuts in the civil and public services. Our commercial sector members continue to organise against hostile employers.

In these changing circumstances, the NEC has agreed to carry out a strategic review of the structure of the union. Come to the fringe meeting to discuss how we can build an even stronger PCS.

When6pm, Monday 18 May

WhereAuditorium 2, Brighton Centre

Chair Janice Godrich, National President

Speaker Mark Serwotka, General Secretary

PCS in a hostile environment: how should we change the union?

FRINGE MEETING

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