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Equality

Motion A46 was carried

NEC Attitude: support

Conference welcomes the commitment from the then Secretary of State for Transport, Ruth Kelly, and the Secretary of State for Communities, Hazel Blears, to have annual pay awards in their departments equality proofed before they are implemented.

Conference recognises that:

  • these commitments were only obtained as a result of PCS pressure and will only be maintained and complied with as a result of PCS pressure and that ensuring compliance will be a very difficult task each year;
  • that such commitments will not redress fundamental problems of low pay, below inflation awards, and unconsolidated awards;
  • nevertheless, obtaining a Secretary of State commitment to equality proofing all pay awards in all bargaining units before implementation can be used by pay negotiators to concentrate management's minds on critical equality issues and is in any case a necessary part of the Union's fight for equal treatment.

Conference therefore instructs the NEC:

Work with Groups to obtain such commitments from all Secretaries of State;
To seek urgently the agreement of the Cabinet Office to require all bargaining units to carry out proper and comprehensive equality assessments of pay proposals before they are implemented and to redress any evident or likely problems on the precautionary principle, again before implementation.

(E marked motions associated with lead motion E349-E350)

Motion A47 was carried

NEC Attitude: support

This Conference notes that inequality and unequal treatment have a profound affect upon the working lives of civil and public sector PCS members by grade, ethnicity, gender and disability as exemplified by the following facts:

(a) The disproportionate representation of "junior" grade staff in misconduct, poor performance, and poor attendance cases;

(b) The disproportionate representation of ethnic minority civil servants in "personal cases";

(c) the differential award by grade and ethnicity of performance box markings and therefore of performance related pay;

(d) the differential award and value of special performance bonuses by grade;

(e) the high percentage of SCS receiving substantial bonuses, and the size of those bonuses, compared to the percentage of junior grade staff PRP or bonuses;

(f) the gender pay gap;

(g) differential access to learning and development opportunities and the differential amounts of money spent on formal training by grade;

(h) The sharp relationship between civil service grade and morbidity and mortality rates;

(i) The unwillingness of departments to amend policies that would impact differentially and detrimentally on certain groups of staff (such as PRP, absence management trigger points that hit "junior grade" staff and to treat equality proofing seriously as something that requires action to prevent differential treatment).

2) Conference further notes that:

(a) Ministers and mandarins are essentially indifferent to these and a myriad other inequalities that touch so deeply on the working and personal lives of our members.

(b) These inequalities mirror inequalities in wider society, including those affecting PCS members in the private sector.

3) Conference believes that a vigorous and imaginative national campaign, feeding into the Groups and National branches and designed to address positively the inequalities suffered by our members, must be a major priority for PCS over the coming years.

4) Conference therefore instructs the NEC to design and launch such a campaign before the end of 2009 and ensure that this campaign:

  • promotes and spreads best equality and diversity practice throughout the areas where PCS has members;
  • promotes the timely and proper undertaking of Equality Impact Analyses of all management proposals affecting staff and ensures that union representatives are suitably training to undertake EqIA themselves;
  • results in representatives being suitably trained to insist on the application of equality legislation laws and to challenge under this if necessary;
  • keeps representatives abreast of developing equality case law;
  • keeps representatives and members informed of the links between inequalities in and out of the workplace;
  • ensures that grade is a key factor in all employer equality proofing and EqIA exercises;
  • challenges social inequality as well as promoting "equality of opportunity";
  • seeks positive alternatives to current employer policies, such as PRP, and employer practices, such as disciplining junior grades whilst turning a blind eye to unacceptable behaviour by senior managers;
  • challenges Ministers to deliver on equality in their own workplaces rather than just lecturing everybody else;
  • identifies areas of poor practice or several specific equality problems and, working with the GEC or national branch, seeks urgent improvement and redress;
  • seeks agreement with Cabinet Office on strengthened delegation rules which meaningfully require departments to comply with their equality obligations;
  • periodically presents to the Cabinet Office examples of poor practice drawn from particular areas of the Civil Service and a wider picture of poor practice across the Civil Service and seeks centrally driven remedial action;
  • presents a detailed report on the campaign to next year’s conference.

(E marked motions associated with lead motion E351-E352)

Motion A48 was carried

NEC Attitude: support

Conference recognises that many Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people continue to experience significant levels of discrimination and harassment and that in many countries, LGBT people are at risk of physical violence, persecution and death.

Conference condemns those parties of the Far Right and those within society that seek to oppress human rights and to justify violence and abuse against LGBT people. Conference reaffirms its support for LGBT members and LGBT rights and agrees that PCS must work to ensure that LGBT issues are given a high priority in all of our bargaining, campaigning and organising activities.

Conference also believes that PCS structures for LGBT members must be built on the principles of self determination and democratic accountability whilst providing a safe environment for LGBT members to participate. Conference congratulates PCS Proud for their pioneering work in supporting LGBT members, in raising awareness of LGBT issues, in campaigning for equal rights and in organising and developing LGBT members into union activism.

Conference welcomes the review that is being carried out by Proud into the organisational effectiveness of the Group and notes the publication of the interim report.

Conference calls on the NEC to continue with that review with the aim of:

  • Improving services and support to LGBT members
  • Raising the profile of Proud within PCS
  • Raising awareness of LGBT issues within PCS democratic structures
  • Producing options for improving the links between Proud and other PCS democratic structures
  • Encouraging and supporting LGBT members to participate in Proud and to take up other PCS elected positions
  • Campaigning to improve membership equality monitoring around sexual orientation and gender identity
  • Ensuring that the structures in place to represent the interests of LGBT members at all levels are build on the principles of self determination and democratic accountability,

and that the NEC should produce a report with recommendations in consultation with Proud Group and consult with Branches and Groups on the emerging conclusions by no later than December 2009.

(E marked motions associated with lead motion E353)

Motion A49 was carried

NEC Attitude: support with statement

Conference applauds the recent victory for Southall Black Sisters (SBS) against Ealing Council, where Ealing Council unsuccessfully tried to withdraw funding from SBS. Conference notes that the outcome of the case says that Local Authorities must undertake proper Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) at the formative stage of the decision making process. Conference now believes the law around EIAs needs to be tested with regard to the Civil Service. The NEC is therefore instructed to fund a suitable case to take to Judicial Review, where an EIA has not been undertaken in the formative stages of a proposed relocation, or one has been undertaken, the outcomes are adverse, and yet the decision to relocate continues to be implemented.

Motion A50 was carried

NEC Attitude: support

Conference reaffirms its commitment towards tackling the under representation of black members within PCS and notes the steps taken towards developing democratic and sustainable structures in line with the recommendations of Black Members’ Moving On: Next Steps, endorsed by ADC 2008

Conference further notes the progress made towards building sustainable networks for black members at regional level and the issues and challenges identified.

Conference instructs the NEC to implement work towards increasing the numbers of black members participating in the networks in order to provide a democratic basis for establishing a policy forum in line with previous conference decisions, by no later than 2010

In order to give effect to that decision, Conference further instructs the NEC to produce proposals that identify the democratic processes for participation in the policy forum including elections from regional black members’ networks, delegation sizes and voting arrangements, to consult on these arrangements with Branches, Groups and Regional Committees and to report back to Conference in 2010 before such arrangements are put in place.


Guillotined: A51, A52 and A53