Public and Commercial Services Union

The National union met yesterday with Government ministers to discuss the draft Treasury guidance soon to be issued to all departments for 2009 pay negotiations. PCS laid out clearly what we would expect to see in that guidance to improve members pay - particularly for the lowest paid. PCS also made plain the need to ensure that efficiencies could be maximised to improve pay. These talks are continuing.

DEEP RECESSION
The International Monetary Fund signalled this week that the UK economy is likely to shrink by 2.8 per cent this year which means that Britain faces the deepest recession of any big industrialised economy.

REASSURANCE NEEDED
A poll this week indicated that 50% of people are worried about redundancy – no doubt that includes the households and families of many DWP members. Such fears are real. DWP management need to understand that DWP members need guarantees about their job security and decent dependable pay rates in such uncertain times.

Certainty about our jobs and pay would enable members to focus totally on getting the jobless back into work.

NEW PAY TALKS OPEN WITH DWP MANAGEMENT
PCS met with DWP management this week to open further discussions about pay in this department and to discuss the basis of our negotiations following our national agreement on pay secured by the NEC.
PCS set out clearly the need to press to make real improvements to DWP pay this year.
PCS outlined the need to improve the pay of every DWP member – all of whom are pulling hard together to maintain a high quality service while working flat out.
Management stated that the position will not become clear until Treasury produce the 2009 remit guidance. That guidance is expected within the next couple of weeks and so both sides agreed to meet again when it is available.

IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED NOW
Further talks on PDS, managing attendance, family friendly policies, job security and employee relations are continuing, aiming to improve members working lives.
PCS emphasised that while talks on improving pay are continuing these improvements are needed urgently to signal good will from management and keep members morale up in such tough times.
Our intention is to conclude these talks urgently.