Public and Commercial Services Union

• Management inflame dispute
• National ballot possible
• ISU endorses management’s position
• PCS advice to members

Background

Previous briefings have given details of the dispute over management’s proposals to slash allowances for members working on Juxtaposed controls. PCS balloted members in the area affected on a campaign of industrial action. Members vote by 96% in favour of strike action and 97% in favour of action short of a strike. Despite this overwhelming result, management still refuse to move their position.

Strike action 19 December 2009

PCS held a one day strike on 19 December 2009. This was overwhelmingly supported by members and management had severe difficulties maintaining the controls. The fantastic response by PCS members has clearly got the employer worried.

Solidarity

In their desperation to cover the controls, management sent out a national call for volunteers to cover the controls left vacant by striking PCS members. PCS responded by urging people not to volunteer. In a fantastic show of solidarity by PCS members, management were unable to muster enough bodies to cover the controls voluntarily.

Proposed strike 23 January 2010

PCS recently served notice on management that we intended to hold another strike on 23 January 2010. Early last week, we received information that maintenance work is due to be carried out on Eurotunnel on that date. The consequent closure of one of our target areas meant that the action would have been less effective and we decided that we would not therefore be calling a strike on 23 January 2010. Other dates for action are under active consideration.

Management try to impose compulsory detached duty

In light of their failure to cobble together enough people to cover the controls voluntarily, management have now tried to impose compulsory detached duty citing the “mobility clause”. This is effectively an attempt by the employer to force people from all over the country to go to France to cover the controls when PCS call strike action. This is a reprehensible act by the employer which demonstrates a callous disregard for their employees. It appears that there are no depths to which they will not sink in order to impose their will.

Inflaming the situation

This latest act by management is highly inflammatory and has served to only alienate their workforce further. PCS will now be forced to actively consider widening the dispute and balloting members in other areas in order to protect them from being used as a scab labour force by an employer with seemingly no principles.

Compulsory detached duty and mobility - advice for members

PCS do not believe that management can simply compel people to go and work in France. We have taken legal advice on the matters arising and, in light of that advice, we are issuing this guidance for members in the event that you are approached by the employer.

The employer claims that they are entitled to deploy mobile staff to any location under compulsory detached duty, provided that the action is proportionate and individual circumstances have been taken into account. PCS do not believe that this is the case. Our advice states that the employer cannot require mobile staff to carry out detached duty. Therefore, in the event that management ask any mobile staff to go on compulsory detached duty, those staff should explain to management that our legal advice states that they are under no obligation to go and that they do not intend to do so.

Not only is our legal advice that there is no requirement for mobile staff to undertake detached duty, but members should also be aware that the exercising of any mobility requirement must pass a test of “reasonableness”.

If it is not reasonable to ask staff to travel several hundred miles to cover a control in another country over a two day period then mobility cannot be enforced. If the employer tries to enforce it then that decision can be challenged.

If you are approached and told that you must undertake juxtaposed control work you should bear in mind the following:

• Distance away from home
• Amount of time required to get to the juxtaposed controls
• The notice given of this compulsion
• Your personal circumstances and demands
• Your social circumstances and demands
• Your domestic life and family

All these factors will play a part in any valid reason why staff cannot undertake compelled mobility hundreds of miles from their homes at short notice.

Finally, if you are approached, please do not agree to any enforced mobility, but say you will contact your PCS representative immediately.

The position of the leadership of the immigration service union 
 

The ISU leadership have issued a circular dated 21 January 2010. This disgracefully gives the employer their tacit approval to send their members on compulsory detached duty. It also, disgracefully for a so-called Trade Union, effectively states that their members should cross picket lines.

The ISU leadership’s circular states that they have reached agreement with the employer in this dispute. They state that payments of allowances will continue until 1 May 2010 and that there will be further discussions should there not be a proposal on Annualised Hours Working by that date. They have therefore committed to linking the issue of subsistence payments to a deal on Annualised Hours Working. So impressed were ISU members in Juxtaposed controls with their leadership’s stance, that hundreds of them have immediately joined PCS.

With their acceptance of the employer’s position on compulsory detached duty, the ISU leadership has effectively abandoned their membership nationally to being forced to travel hundreds of miles at great inconvenience against their will, in order to cover the roles of their fellow workers who are on strike in a fight to protect their livelihoods.

PCS do not believe that ISU members have any desire to do this. It is our desire to protect them from this, but we can only do so if they join the ranks of PCS. It is clear that PCS is the organisation that is serious about protecting the interests of workers within the Home Office. We urge all members of the ISU to follow the example of their colleagues in Juxtaposed controls and join our ranks. Help us to protect your position and fight the outrageous actions of an employer that continues to show a callous disregard for its workforce.

If you are not a member of PCS, we urge you to to join the trade union for workers in the home office.