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Civil service compensation scheme ? why MoD staff should vote ?YES? to support action

We are writing to you to ask for your support in the forthcoming PCS ballot on the civil service compensation scheme (CSCS).

In the media the proposed changes to our redundancy agreement have been presented as a reform to stop ‘fat cat pay-offs’ for senior civil servants.

In reality, the proposals threaten to strip the majority of low paid civil servants of their current entitlements to compensation in the event of redundancy, whether compulsory or voluntary.

The changes would make job cuts and privatisation easier for the MoD. They make everyone more vulnerable to redundancy in the future, as worse voluntary redundancy terms means less people are likely to opt for them and compulsory redundancies may be a route MoD goes down.

We believe MoD is now awaiting changes to the CSCS rather than working with us to manage the people consequences of its programme of arbitrary cuts. Incredibly, MoD is presently adopting a position of denying what is obvious to all staff in the department. It continues to pretend it is not in a pre redundancy situation – and it continues to refuse to sit down with PCS to plan how to manage surplus staff and to avoid redundancies.

It has dismissed our concerns about the mounting number of surplus staff in London, Wiltshire and elsewhere and the lack of vacant posts and it dissembles when asked how these staff are to be looked after.

In MoD we now have nearly 1,000 staff in the redeployment pool, we have the ‘independent’ review of civil servants being carried out by Thatcher’s privatization guru – the Grimstone reaper - who is looking for 10,000 immediate job cuts along with further opportunities to transfer MoD work and staff to the private sector and we have the forthcoming strategic defence review after the next election which promises even further reductions.

Any changes to the CSCS will make it easier for MoD to cut posts and will make redundancies cheaper. It may encourage MoD to attempt to make staff compulsorily redundant.

It will also make it easier and cheaper to privatise current activities carried out within the MoD by civil servants, as contractors will not have to replicate current civil service redundancy terms. We know that contractors make significant profits from redundancies post transfer and reducing the CSCS terms will make this more likely.

Last year over 35,000 members, many from MoD, came to the 1,000 consultation meetings PCS held on the CSCS; making it the largest such exercise our union has carried out. 18,000 members wrote to the Cabinet Office protesting about the proposals to slash existing entitlements. This pressure has forced concessions from the employer – but we now need to maintain and increase our efforts to ensure that we arrive at a settlement where all PCS members are protected.

The industrial action ballot opens on 4 February, and closes on 25 February, and members are urged to vote YES to put maximum pressure on the employer. Although we continue to engage in negotiations, and it is vital that we keep up the pressure and that members vote YES in the ballot. Please make sure that your ballot address is recorded correctly by PCS, by checking your details here on the PCS website: http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/member/index.cfm.

If you don’t receive a ballot paper by 15 February, please contact us.

Our union has today lodged papers in the High Court today for a judicial review, arguing that the changes need to be implemented through agreement with the trade unions rather than imposed. We have also increased the political pressure over the changes with a 135 MPs and former ministers signing an early day motion urging the government to re-examine its proposals.

It is regrettable that our sister unions in the MoD (Prospect, FDA and Unite) have accepted the offer on behalf of their members, even though in many instances, their members have the most to lose financially from the proposals. However, this is a matter for their members and executives. Our union will continue, alone if necessary, to defend our members interests and to seek a negotiated settlement which covers all members, not just some.

We will continue to seek agreement through negotiation, but the government and the Cabinet Office’s insistence on ploughing ahead, combined with their unwillingness to find an agreement means all of us have to vote to take action if necessary to defend our entitlements and defend our jobs.

The PCS MoD group executive committee (GEC) fully supports the CSCS campaign and will be organising as many meetings as possible at as many MoD sites as possible. Where annual general meetings (AGM's) take place prior to Friday 19 February, the guest speaker will give an update on the CSCS. Where AGM's are scheduled after 19 February, we are asking all branches to arrange a separate CSCS update meeting as soon as possible.

We attach here a copy of a letter from our general secretary, Mark Serwotka and Janice Godrich our president which responds to the points made in yesterdays letter to all civil servants from Sir Gus O’Donnell.
www.pcs.org.uk/en/campaigns/cscs/pcs-response-to-sir-gus-o-donnell.cfm
 

If you wish to know when your branch AGM or branch CSCS meeting is to be held please contact:

Mike Jones - Email: mikej@pcs.org.uk Tel: 07748 003402
Dougie Brownie - Email: noobin66@hotmail.com Tel: 07931 342011

Finally, please make non members aware of the threat and ask them to join our union. We appeal to every Branch and member to consider what they can do to help our union become stronger. We have proven that when we stand together we can resist attacks from the employer and defend our jobs. Make sure everyone where you are is in our union and is prepared to stand up and defend our entitlements and our jobs.


There is a lot to do – get involved today!!

 

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