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Personnel and policy

Motion A114 was carried

NEC Attitude: support

Conference notes the failure of some groups to negotiate the disregarding of disability related absences in attendance management procedures. Conference instructs the NEC to negotiate this change with the Cabinet Office for all members in the Civil Service and NDPBs.

(E marked motions associated with lead motion E509-E513)

Motion A115 was carried

NEC Attitude: support with statement

Conference notes the legal position of the right of employers to recover salary overpayments. Conference further notes the worry and stress overpayments can cause members, and the impression some members may get that such overpayments must be paid back in one lump sum, or by large monthly repayments. Often these overpayments are the fault of, or exacerbated by the employer. The employee is then chased further down the line once payroll realise there has been overpayment.

Conference therefore instructs the NEC:

1. To seek a national agreement with the employer that notification of the underpayment is sent by letter two months prior to recovery from the employee to enable an agreed time scale for repayment.

2. To seek a national agreement with the employer to take responsibility for the overpayment where the overpayments exceed a time delay of four months from the date of arising, and agreement that they are written off so that the employee does not have this burden of extra debt to pay back through no fault of their own.

(E marked motions associated with lead motion E514-E515)

Motion A116 was carried

NEC Attitude: support

Conference welcomes the positive impact of the PCS Call Centre Charter which has been an important initiative in developing our work in this area and which has provided a focus for our bargaining, organising and campaigning priorities. Conference also welcomes the setting up and development of Group forums and the meeting of call centre negotiators called by the union nationally.

Conference notes that the issues facing call centre and telephony workers in different departments and related bodies are broadly similar and that delegated bargaining works to the advantage of the worst employers who operate on the basis of minimal pay, terms and conditions. While PCS at Departmental level and related bodies continue to bargain and campaign to improve members conditions, a National Framework Agreement for the civil service and related bodies is the most effective way to ensure uniformity of high standards throughout the call centre network.

Minimum demands for a National Framework must include:

1 - Fair rates of pay and decent terms and conditions for call centre workers negotiated through central bargaining.
2 - High standards of training and regular up-skilling.
3 - Rigorous Health and Safety standards.
4 - Patterns of work that meet the needs of staff.

Conference instructs the National Executive Committee to:

a) Campaign for a National Call Centre Framework Agreement in the civil service and related bodies.
b) To convene a further meeting of call centre negotiators from the Groups and related bodies in order to set out demands and a bargaining agenda for a national Framework Agreement, to be agreed by the NEC.
c) PCS to take all necessary steps to begin the process.

Conference instructs the National Executive Committee to continue to organise, campaign and negotiate to ensure that call centres are operated to the highest possible standards underpinned by professional training for all staff. The NEC will continue to develop its work on call centres both within PCS and in the wider trade union movement.

(E marked motions associated with lead motion E516-E517)

Motion A118 was carried

NEC Attitude: support

3.5 million people currently in the UK suffer some kind of fertility treatment, this equates to one in seven couples.

Currently most Government departments do not give any paid time off for fertility treatment or investigations which may lead to fertility treatment as they see it as a personal choice for which the individual is personally responsible for, sometimes likening it to plastic surgery.

The World Health Organisation defines health “as a physical, mental and social issue not simply related to disease and infirmity”, it is now widely accepted that infertility is a health issue.

Based on this new information we therefore instruct the NEC to negotiate with the Government to:

1. obtain an element of paid leave for people undergoing fertility treatment, bearing in mind the TUC’s aim of 10 days a year.

2. obtain a sympathetic policy for staff undergoing this treatment.

Guillotined: A614, A119, A120, A121, A122, A586, A123, A125, A126, A127 and A128