Public and Commercial Services Union

• Foreward
• Pay campaign
• Protecting public services
• Pensions
• Health and safety
• Equality
• Personnel policy
• International
• Commercial sector
• Social and economic
• Campaigns and organising
• PCS structure and services
• National executive committee attendance 2008

---

Foreword

During 2008 the union's campaign against job cuts resulted in an important national agreement on avoiding compulsory redundancy and redeployment.

Members' determination to protect our vital interests, shown in the mandate for industrial action, enabled the union to conclude a protocol agreement which includes new protections for surplus staff, and a formal central dispute resolution process managed by the Cabinet Office.

In a climate of continuing pressure on public spending and economic recession, our agreement will continue to offer important protection to members in the period ahead.

The year was increasingly dominated by the need to resist real terms pay cuts. Along with other unions and the TUC, we consistently argued that workers are the victims, not the cause, of inflation. Economists tended to support our case, but the threat of cuts in the standards of living of our members took us into a crucial national dispute.

At the end of 2008 the prospect of further industrial action was deferred by the first national talks with the government on pay since the early 1990s. This has enabled us to gain access to more money through an agreement that in 2009 efficiency savings can be recycled into pay. The absolute cap of 2% will not be applied.

The agreement will now be tested in pay bargaining areas. Progress towards our overall negotiating objectives will be monitored nationally so that we can identify and respond to remaining disputes.

Additional support will be made available to pay negotiators. In particular we will escalate our efforts to challenge unequal pay both legally and industrially. The need for further industrial action cannot be ruled out.

During the year we have continued to prioritise our organising agenda, including tackling the under-representation of black and minority ethnic members. A review of the commercial sector is ongoing reflecting its strategic importance in the future of our union.

Our campaigning profile has continued to increase throughout the successful Make Your Vote Count campaign and specific work through the Tax Justice campaign.

In response to ill-conceived government proposals under the banner of welfare reform, we have taken the lead in campaigning, alongside other unions and campaigning bodies, for a more genuine attempt to eliminate poverty.

This year we have on too many occasions had to provide legal and other support for a number of our local reps under attack from management for carrying out their elected duties. There has been a particular problem at the Child Support Agency where one of our reps was unfairly dismissed. The union is supporting other reps in this area and will ensure they are fully protected.

Local reps are the backbone of the union and we would like to conclude by thanking them for the vital work they do for members. We will both be addressing many branch members meetings in the coming weeks and would encourage all members to attend the branch annual general meeting to contribute your views. Our organising and campaigning activity in 2008, plus the links we have built with other unions, has strengthened our ability to face the challenges that lie ahead.

Mark Serwotka, general secretary

Janice Godrich, president

---

Pay campaign

In 2008, for the first time since delegated bargaining was introduced in the mid 1990s, we reached a national agreement with the government on pay issues.

Over the coming year we will work to ensure that the agreement is implemented in delegated bargaining areas and results in real pay improvements for members.

In 2008, the experience of most members was that pay offers contained basic increases which were well below the level of inflation. During the summer the retail price index increased to 5%, meaning the government's pay cap of 2% created a minimum 3% loss in the real value of members' pay.

Higher losses occurred in many cases where members were offered less than 2%. Within the overall inflation figure, food and energy prices were rising at much faster rates and many members were struggling more than ever to pay their bills. There were many examples of members receiving no consolidated increases at all.

The year on year accumulation of reductions in real pay values was a growing concern.

In response the national executive committee (NEC) set out a strategy, endorsed overwhelmingly at the union's annual delegate conference (ADC), to develop our national campaign to secure structural reform of pay determination across all civil service and public sector organisations, and pay increases of at least the rate of inflation. Prominent in the instructions from the ADC was a national ballot for further action if the government refused to change direction.

Inadequate pay offers had already led to disputes and industrial action in over 20 bargaining units during the first half of the year.

In line with our policy of co-ordinating action on pay with other public sector unions, PCS members in some groups joined members of the National Union of Teachers and University and College Union taking strike action in April. In July further action took place with Unison members on strike in local government.

Following conference, the NEC agreed members should be consulted about the form of action prior to any national industrial action ballot taking place. The consultation took place during July and August.

A ballot on industrial action was then held in September and October on national action and targeted action on a sectoral basis. Members voted in favour of the programme of industrial action and the first one-day strike was called for 10 November.

The NEC made it clear our aim was a negotiated settlement and in the week prior to the scheduled strike tentative talks took place.

In an unprecedented move, the head of the civil service agreed a 28-day extension to our industrial action mandate, extending it to 11 December to allow substantive negotiations to take place on our demands. The 10 November strike was suspended and talks commenced with the government.

Intensive negotiations led to an agreement in early December. In significant shifts of policy, the government first agreed that money from efficiency savings could be recycled for pay bargaining.

In the past the Treasury would not allow departments and non-departmental public bodies to use that money.

Secondly, the government unequivocally said there is no 2% limit on settlements; the Treasury's pay remit guidance for 2008-9 had stated that consolidated pay awards could be no more than 2%.

In December, talks commenced about revised Treasury pay remit guidance as a means of allowing improved pay to be negotiated in departments and other organisations.

A series of regional forums were planned for January to enable branch reps to discuss how we intend to go forward. The national pay campaign continued into a new phase.

At the time of writing we were at the beginning of a process of testing the agreement in bargaining areas and monitoring that at the centre, with a preparedness to consider action if necessary.

Equal pay and age discrimination

PCS pursues equal pay and age discrimination cases whenever the opportunity arises, and we are pleased to have Clare Hockney, a solicitor from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, working for us on secondment.

The year ended with the union supporting 200 employment tribunal applications from seven different areas of the union.

On equal pay we are supporting cases in the Department for Transport (DfT), Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

In the DfT, as well as being important to those members, these cases have national ramifications, as we seek to clarify an important legal point on single source, i.e. that we are able to run equal pay cases from members in different agencies within a department, and also cases from staff across different departments.

Cases are also linked to a judicial review in which we argue that DfT has not properly implemented the gender equality duty.

Jointly with the TUC, and in association with the Wainwright Trust, we have produced a DVD about our successful Prison Service equal pay campaign in 2006, 'Breaking free! The fight for equal pay in the Prison Service'.

Conference motion A189 required PCS to campaign for equal pay claims to be pursued more easily, for the government to fully fund successful outcomes including back pay, and to ensure that equal pay operates on the basis of equalising upwards to the higher rate of pay.

These objectives are all being pursued. We are also supporting age discrimination cases in the MoD, MoJ, Department for Work and Pensions and the Valuation Office Agency.

Pay bargaining in Scotland

Conference motion A14 required the NEC to monitor pay developments in Scotland and consider the necessary structural changes within PCS to ensure that a democratic policy-making body could focus on pay issues. A number of pay disputes occurred in Scottish bargaining units during the summer of 2008 and progress is being carefully monitored and evaluated.

Low pay and the minimum wage

We have adopted the demand for a minimum wage of £8.25 an hour, as set down in conference motion A151, and will argue for this in evidence to the Low Pay Commission about changes to the national minimum wage (NMW). This will be a feature of PCS standard pay claims in 2008. The motion also instructed the union to campaign for abolition of separate rates of NMW for young people, development rates, and for ending exclusions. These points have all been taken up in our work in this important area.

---

Protecting public services

In 2008 we reached a national agreement with the Cabinet Office on protection from compulsory redundancy in the civil service and associated areas.

Civil and public services, and the civil servants who deliver them, have been under threat from job cuts, redundancy and outsourcing for some years now.

This situation was exacerbated by the announcement in 2004 of 100,000 civil service job cuts and the subsequent 'efficiency' programme to deliver those cuts.

In 2006, after the first compulsory redundancies were imposed in the civil service, we began a major national campaign to defend the terms, conditions and job security of our members, and to ensure that core public services were not further degraded by cuts in staff resources.

In 2007 our members took two separate days of national strike to defend the civil service from job cuts, redundancies, privatisation, and a worsening of the terms of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme.

This was followed by a series of other actions short of a strike. Following this, PCS ran a major consultation exercise with members to take stock of their views and determine the best way forward. Members supported further action in a national consultative ballot.

Protecting members

This pressure resulted in an offer of talks from the Cabinet Office on new redundancy avoidance 'protocols', and other issues of concern such as the consequences to staff of outsourcing and privatisation.

These discussions were ongoing through late 2007 and early 2008 and, as a result of the demonstrated willingness of members to take action, new agreements were reached.

The new protocols were a significant step forward. They represented a formal agreement with the civil service trade unions, and as such had built-in mechanisms for the unions to monitor and review their application.

They also added new protections for surplus staff, including exclusive access to civil service vacancies for a limited period and enhanced requirements on employing departments to provide a full range of satisfactory alternative job options.

The protocols do not provide a complete guarantee against compulsory redundancies, but they go some way to doing so and, at December 2008, there had been no compulsory redundancies within the civil service and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) since they came into operation.

The new agreement on outsourcing was also a significant step forward. While it does not provide us with a veto on outsourcing proposals, it does give our negotiators leverage to argue for the retention of services within the public sector.

It set new benchmark procedures, endorsed by the Cabinet Office, for employers to consider in-house bids, where before an employer could simply ignore even considering the option. It also provides some level of post transfer job security built into contracts awarded to successful bidders.

Privatisation

PCS remains absolutely opposed to the privatisation of public services. It now appears that the government is pushing ahead with its privatisation programme, partly in order to appear to cut jobs, but largely for ideological reasons.

In December 2008 the Lord Chancellor even proposed outsourcing court services, despite previous assurances this would not happen, and widespread concerns it will adversely affect the justice system.

Despite Lord Mandelson's assurance that the government wished to help the low paid claim their full entitlements to the minimum wage, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform is considering outsourcing the minimum wage helpline, putting the delivery of minimum wage advice in the hands of the private sector.

The government also proposes to outsource strategic weapons support at Faslane and Coulport naval bases. We are working with US defence trade unions and seeking guidance from the US Defence Department on the legality of privatising work that supports a nuclear base with American weapons on it.

We continue to have some success in opposing privatisations. Our long-running campaign against the privatisation of the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency's functions was ultimately successful when the secretary of state decided not to proceed with this option.

This was a tribute to the immense hard work put in by local PCS reps and the officials who supported them.

Relocations and job cuts

We also continue to run vigorous campaigns implementing policies passed at the 2008 annual conference. In the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) the union has campaigned against imposed relocation involving the closure of its London HQ. Members in the Marine Fisheries Agency face a possible threat to members' civil service status upon transfer to a newly formed Marine Management Organisation.

PCS continues its commitment to opposing any reduction in staffing levels within the civil service and NDPBs.

As with 'efficiency' programmes designed to cut staff, we oppose restructuring that leads to fewer staff performing more work with fewer resources. This can only have a negative impact on quality of service with the result that services are not able to cope with the return of economic crisis.

We continue to campaign against office closures and reliance on remote delivery channels that remove services from our communities. PCS has organised many successful local campaigns to prevent jobcentre closures. In line with conference motion A5 we continue to resist cuts and the resulting damage to services.

PCS Scotland

As part of the national pay campaign PCS Scotland co-ordinated disputes on Scottish ministers pay remits. This resulted in the first ever departmental industrial action on pay for the Scottish government. Action also took place in the Scottish courts and the National Museum of Scotland.

There were Westminster by-elections in Glasgow East and Glenrothes. We ran high profile Make Your Vote Count campaigns in both constituencies and members secured the support of candidates from across the political spectrum on a number of our key demands. Our candidates' question time meetings were the liveliest events of these by-election campaigns.

The PCS Scottish parliamentary group continues to receive support from 16 MSPs, a number of whom have been extremely helpful in highlighting our issues in Holyrood including the national and Scottish ministers pay disputes, threats to the future of the Forestry Commission, Glasgow Passport Office, coastguard pay and Revenue and Customs local office closures.

PCS Wales

The main issues in Wales during 2008 were the ongoing campaigns against tax office closures and against regional pay in the Ministry of Justice and DVLA, for which we won widespread political support and media coverage.

The 2% pay cap also resulted in members in National Museum of Wales to taking strike action for the first time in its history.

We held a successful conference on welfare reform, addressed by the minister for work, Stephen Timms, and professor Steve Davies.

A move towards an elected Wales committee and the consolidation of networks for women, black and ethnic minority members, young members, disabled members and LGBT members, strengthened our organisation.

During the year we have made progress towards recognition at the General Teaching Council for Wales and concluded a successful agreement with the Children's Commissioner for Wales.

---

Pensions

During 2008 further changes were made to civil service pension arrangements which completed the pension reform process of 2007.

Civil service pensions

On 5 February 2008 amendments were laid in parliament to the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme. This saw the introduction of partial retirement and the increase in reckonable service limits. At the same time detailed guidance on partial retirement was issued via the civil service pensions website and employer based intranet systems.

We have continued to monitor take up of partial retirement and to address particular problems via departmental employers and the Cabinet Office as appropriate.

In September arrangements for the governance structure and sustainability were laid in parliament.

Civil Service Compensation Scheme

Throughout the year unions and the Cabinet Office were engaged in detailed discussions about several aspects relating to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS).

A report to conference informed members that a number of tribunal cases, supported by PCS and Prospect, were being pursued on aspects of the scheme which may conflict with age discrimination legislation.

The employment tribunal decided that the tapering provisions contained within the CSCS were unlawful from 1 December 2006 and at the time of writing the unions were engaged in trying to settle the individual claims. While the broader reform discussions are taking place we are also seeking to remove other possible discriminatory provisions from the scheme.

Commercial sector pensions

We have been vigilant in cases where members have been transferred into the private sector. Our officers have been advised to ensure they are involved before transfer and that pension issues are resolved at an early stage. The 'fair deal' in its revised form has greatly assisted in this matter and has been publicised throughout the union. We continue to provide actuarial and legal support to our negotiators.

State pensions

Via the TUC, we have been involved in responding to consultations concerning government reform of the state pension systems. In affiliating to the National Pensioners Convention (NPC) we have provided financial support for important policy and campaigning activities and were pleased to be a sponsor of a rally and parliamentary lobby called to mark 100 years of the state pension late in the year.

We continue to take an active role in state pension campaigning and sponsored campaigning activity in relation to jobs and services at the NPC parliament in Blackpool in June.

Other issues

The Cabinet Office review of civil service pension delivery required the union to make a formal response following conference debates on this matter. PCS reps from the pensions administration centres, the national executive pension strategy committee and others were kept informed. By the end of the year, no formal decision had been made by the Cabinet Office on how this was to be taken forward.

Associate and retired members

Our Associate and retired members section (ARMs) continued with its fundamental review of its relationship with other structures of the union. The continued work of ARMs representatives, particularly in relation to the main PCS campaigns, has significantly raised the ARMs profile throughout the union.

Recruitment leaflets, posters and guidance were all updated during the year and issued through branches and regional offices. We also published four issues of the ARMs newsletter during the year.

ARMs continues to play a full and active part in activities at the NPC and pensioners' parliament where, together with our campaigns team and pension service group, we had a display stand and hosted a small reception to draw attention to our jobs and services campaign.

We also affiliated to the Public Service Pensioners Council and subscribe to Help the Aged, Age Concern and PARITY. ARMs, at both regional and national level, plays an important part in these organisations supporting campaigning events locally regionally and nationally. The 2008 ARMs forum was held in Blackpool in June and followed the annual pensioners' parliament. We were pleased to welcome Sam Hall, from the Department for Work and Pensions group, as the main speaker.

We acknowledge the tremendous amount of commitment by many members of ARMs to its work and its support of PCS national campaigns.

Other matters

Guidance on ill health injury benefit and related matters continued to be made available by the PCS pensions officer. Conference expressed concern about the issue of inaccurate early retirement estimates in a number of departments, and we are gathering detailed evidence to pursue the issue with the Cabinet Office.

---

Health and safety

With continuing government focus on reducing sickness absence, a lot of our work in 2008 was centred on initiatives around good work and preventive strategies - ensuring that workplaces are designed and maintained to benefit health, and that issues which impact on the health and wellbeing of members are properly controlled.

We are currently gathering evidence from workplace health and safety reps on difficulties relating to excessive temperatures in the workplace to enable us to prove to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that the present legislative regime is ineffective and that a change to the law is required.

A guide for health and safety reps on securing suitable indoor working environments, including planning around flexible workstations, is being prepared. We are involved in discussions with the Cabinet Office about the proactive agenda for managing and measuring wellbeing at work. We are now looking at the government's response to Dame Carol Black's report 'Working for a healthier tomorrow'.

In April, the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act came into force. This is key new legislation and has no provisions for Crown immunity. We are continuing to press the government to honour its 2001 commitment to repeal Crown immunity from health and safety legislation as well.

Also this year, the HSE launched revised guidance on the 1977 safety representatives and safety committees regulations. While this gives safety reps some additional strength in challenging employers' inactivity on health and safety, there is still a need for stronger legislation.

The TUC has published a 'Charter for change' to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the safety reps regulations coming into force. Linked to this, we have spent some time looking at how PCS organises for safety and are seeking to improve our records of workplace and branch safety representatives.

We again sponsored the annual Hazards conference and, in line with the motion remitted from conference 2007, increased the size of the PCS delegation.

Other issues covered by our national health and safety forum included: looking at the gender issues involved in health and safety, including undertaking the TUC audit of gender sensitivity of occupational health and safety arrangements, and circulating guidance on menopause issues; investigating employer policies on the placing of automatic external defibrillators within workplaces; and working with researchers from Sheffield University's institute of work psychology who are undertaking a violence at work project.

---

Equality

Tackling under representation

Work has continued on our project to support and encourage black and disabled members to become more active in the union, and we have set up funded networks for black and disabled members in every region.

Developing sustainable networks that are democratically based is one of the building blocks for the reform of black members' structures in PCS and this has been the subject of debate and consultation with the national black members' forum and at the annual black members' seminar.

Union equality reps

Funding was secured for a two-year project aimed at identifying, developing and training branch equality reps. The project is being run in our north west region and branches in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). If successful it will be rolled out across the union.

Civil service equality strategy

A new civil service equality and diversity strategy was launched in July under which departments and agencies are required to develop plans around four key themes: behaviour and culture change; leadership and accountability; talent management; and improved representation.

We have been involved in consultation on the strategy and in working groups set up to identify and promote best practice. Our priorities include improving monitoring responses, compliance with the equality duties and tackling bullying and harassment.

Public sector equality duties

Representations have been made to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) about widespread non-compliance with the equality duties and we have made a submission to the EHRC investigation into Jobcentre Plus.

We have provided training to groups and branches, and an early day motion highlighting non-compliance with the race duty was put down by the PCS parliamentary group, supported by a postcard campaign to MPs.

Judicial review proceedings were launched against the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform for failing to conduct a race impact assessment on proposed job cuts, but regrettably the High Court did not grant leave to bring proceedings. We raised the weak enforcement provisions of the equality duties in our submission to the government's review of discrimination law.

Migration and asylum

We responded to government proposals for the reform of asylum laws and supported and promoted the TUC/Refugee Council Let Them Work campaign. We are setting up a consultative group made up of representatives from departments and agencies engaged in implementing migration and asylum policy to assist in developing our strategy.

Black members

The black members' forum has been promoting understanding of race equality and contributing to the PCS review of personal case handling. We have launched a newsletter held a series of events to commemorate the abolition of the slave trade and black history month.

In response to a reported rise in incidents of race based harassment and bullying, we have set up a project with the Crown Prosecution Service group to research and identify effective interventions. Work has also been undertaken to tackle Islamophobia and the forum has been active in supporting the family of Jay Abatan, a former PCS member who died following a racist attack.

Disabled members

Our disabled members forum has been active in campaigning for the restoration of central funding for Access to Work and to improve compliance with the disability duty.

We have made submissions to the work and pensions select committee on the role of the DWP in supporting the employment of disabled people and we raised concerns about the negative impacts of the government's welfare reform proposals.

We have circulated guidance on mental health issues and are preparing further guidance on the requirement to make reasonable adjustments.

LGBT members

Following consultation with Proud, the group representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans members, we now include questions on sexual orientation and gender identity as part of our membership monitoring and we are campaigning to have similar questions included in the 2011 census.

Proud members have had a high profile at Pride events around the UK and the group has also been active through PCS affiliations to the International Lesbian and Gay Association and the UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group.

Guidance has been published on HIV and Aids in the workplace, a regular magazine has produced and a review of Proud structures is underway.

Women members

We have made submissions to government reviews on proposals to improve maternity, paternity and flexible working rights. Guidance on supporting members suffering from post natal depression who are penalised under sickness absence schemes has been issued and a research project into the inequalities faced by part time workers is ongoing.

The women's forum has continued to support the campaign to defend abortion rights and to support white ribbon day, the international day against violence against women.

A survey to identify which employers have workplace policies on domestic violence was undertaken and guidance is being produced for negotiators and members.

Gender representation

PCS rules require that delegates to TUC conferences elected at our annual delegate conference should reflect the proportion of women members, currently 60%. The table shows the target figures and actual outcomes of the elections held at conference in 2008.

 

Table showing gender representation at TUC conferences

Conference	Delegates	Target	Actual
TUC	14	8	7
TUC Women	8	8	8
TUC Youth	3	2	1
STUC	9	5	4
STUC Women	5	5	5
STUC Youth	0	0	0
Wales TUC	6	4	4
Wales TUC Women	2	2	2

 

The national executive committee will continue to work towards increasing the representation of women and other equality groups by reminding branches of the need to ensure delegations to conference and their nominations are reflective of our membership diversity.

---

Personnel policy

At national level, personnel policy issues formed an important plank of the talks between the Council of Civil Service Unions (CCSU) and the Cabinet Office. Under the title 'Work and wellbeing', this formed a complementary strand to the pay and job protocol negotiations.

Under this many of the issues raised by motions passed at the 2008 annual conference have been moved forward.

As well as the aims and activities outlined in motion A80, issues of job design and working practices covered in A74, domestic violence policies under A79, post-natal depression health issues under A81 and the concerns about bullying from A83, have been taken up through these national talks.

The aims are to explore what common ground exists in terms of principles and existing good practice and to draw up a statement of how individual civil servants can benefit from and participate in wellbeing policies and initiatives, and how management can support wellbeing.

PCS reps have taken leading roles in the main group and in sub-groups covering equality and diversity, health and wellbeing, learning and skills and the 'people consequences' of sustainability initiatives.

The unions have urged the Cabinet Office to build on existing knowledge, agreements and good practice rather than starting from scratch. The CCSU position has been firmly based on the findings of the Whitehall II studies and the previous work carried out by PCS for its Wellbeing at Work campaign.

CCSU representatives have also considered how the surveys designed to obtain standard data across the civil service under the Cabinet Office's employee engagement programme can be used to identify priorities and how the work and wellbeing talks can influence the way in which managers respond to the survey findings. In this, as in other issues, co-ordination between national and bargaining unit activity has helped achieve more robust outcomes.

For these talks to carry weight, the negotiators will seek endorsement of their recommendations by the permanent secretaries employment relations group on the Cabinet Office side and by the CCSU council. Progress reports have been provided to these bodies, along with our national executive and personnel policy forum, on a regular basis.

An ongoing programme of improving resources and guidance for negotiators is helping us share knowledge and resources throughout the union. Guidance for negotiators on work and wellbeing topics is available on the PCS website.

---

International

The union's international strategy, in relation to its commitment to fighting for members' and workers rights globally, continued throughout 2008. We successfully obtained funding from the international development learning fund, administered by the TUC to increase internal capacity to bid for Department for International Development funding in 2009. Our overall aim is to raise development awareness among members.

As part of the international development project, we conducted a members' survey, the results of which were used to guide the future shape and direction of the project.

We have been active in Europe through the European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU) working with sister unions to take forward the services of general interest element of the EPSU quality public services campaign in the UK and Ireland.

There is ongoing work towards supporting the EPSU campaign promoting a public services pledge for 2009, involving all public service unions asking candidates in the European elections to sign up to the pledge for the foundation for a positive attitude to public services.

We continued to play a key role in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign trade union advisory committee, and participated in the lobby of parliament. Palestine was the main theme for the international rally at ADC, with guest speakers from the Palestine Delegation and War on Want.

We are raising demands on the government, through political and parliamentary channels, to apply pressure on Israel in relation to the occupation and blockade of the West Bank and Gaza.

At the end of 2008, as the annual report was written, the suffering in Gaza increased to an appalling extent as a result of an intense Israeli bombardment and invasion. Public opinion was outraged at the numbers of civilian deaths including many children. The union supported the national demonstrations calling for Israeli withdrawal and continues to campaign for a free and independent Palestine.

Working with War on Want, we launched the 'Global problems public solutions' leaflet and campaign at annual conference, pursuing a new public finance initiative. Focusing on tax justice, we will call on the government to acknowledge that a fair and progressive tax system which is properly resourced and administered is essential to tackle poverty and to build a more equitable society.

A 10-point plan outlining our UK and international demands is being used in the union's international campaign and will feature in an updated publication.

Conference motion A198 welcomed the work that PCS and the TUC had done to highlight issues around modern day wage slavery and exploitation. This issue is being progressed through supporting existing TUC campaigns through a co-ordinated approach, along with the issues of migration and immigration.

The call at annual conference to affiliate to Hands off the People of Iran (HOPI) re-emphasised the existing PCS position on Iraq. PCS was represented at the HOPI annual meeting in December.

In October, the Law Lords ruled 3-2 in favour of the government blocking the Chagos islanders from returning home, so their legal battle continues. We continue to support the Chagos Islands Community Association, which proposes to hold a national rally in 2009.

---

Commercial sector

For the first time, annual conference had a specific section covering issues affecting PCS members in the commercial sector.

This reflects the strategic importance of the sector in the future of PCS and the key role it plays in supporting quality public services and protecting members directly affected by privatisation.

In 2008 we have been reviewing how PCS will work and grow in the private sector in the future. This has been ongoing against a background of approximately 2,000 redundancies in the last 12 months, many of them compulsory.

Bargaining

Despite the high level of redundancies we have saved hundreds of jobs in Haden (now Balfour Beatty Workplace), EDS and Siemens. We have also secured above average pay increases in most of the employers we deal with.

We have reintroduced pay progression in some areas to help tackle low pay and to help start to address two tier workforce issues created by the outsourcing process. This, and improving pay equality, will be with us for some time to come and are major bargaining issues in 2009.

We have secured redundancy packages for hundreds of members over and above their statutory entitlement plus skills training to help members redeploy into new jobs.

Campaigning

Campaigning to protect jobs has and will continue to be a priority. Company takeovers such as Hewlett Packard taking over EDS and the economic crisis look set to put more commercial sector jobs under threat.

We are campaigning on environmental issues, corporate social responsibility and the learning agenda. We recruited 30 union learning reps in 2008 and held our first sector wide learning event in the commercial sector.

We have also campaigned on wellbeing at work with companies like Accenture, Capita and Fujitsu, and have successfully brought the eight biggest IT companies in UK public services together to improve industrial relations.

We have campaigned successfully with Unite to take 12 out of 16 seats on the EDS UK works council.

Organising

Despite more than 2,000 redundancies, the commercial sector has broadly maintained membership levels. Recruitment campaigns in Balfour Beatty Workplace, Working Links and EDS have seen many new members join us. We have worked jointly with PCS Department and Work and Pensions group on recruitment campaigns and in preparing to deal with the voluntary sector.

We have won full union recognition in Fujitsu (Netherton) and improved recognition agreements in Atos Origin, Amey and Capita (Filestores).

Work is underway to develop a new 'message' to help recruit new members in 2009 in the IT industry and the security industry. We are also building relations in the voluntary sector.

Communications

In 2008 we improved our website and continued to use our e-newsletter, CS News. New materials have been developed to support membership recruitment and our learning campaigns.

Improving communications at every level remains a priority for the commercial sector.

We have raised our profile through national and local media coverage of our campaigns and by speaking at external events to promote our members issues.

A new communications strategy will be launched in 2009.

---

Social and economic

PCS has taken a lead in developing a trade union response to the government's welfare reform plans. Our emergency motion was carried unanimously at the TUC and this has been followed by intensive campaigning alongside other unions and non-governmental organisations.

Further legislation, which would retard rather than advance the government's pledge to eliminate child poverty, could pave the way for welfare cuts and the privatisation of welfare and employment services. Resistance to this agenda is growing as a result of our work.

We supported the End Child Poverty campaign and the national demonstration held on 4 October. Along with other unions we have publicised the way in which low pay continues to entrench poverty and deprivation in the fourth richest country in the world.

We continue to campaign to achieve a national minimum wage of £8.25 by 2010, and for more realistic resources for minimum wage compliance and organisations such as the Gangmasters Licensing Authority, where the union achieved recognition this year.

Again following a PCS motion to the TUC, we have launched a tax justice campaign and held a successful public meeting on closing the tax gap in the House of Commons in November.

We continue, with TUC support, to campaign alongside organisations such as War on Want, and through the Tax Justice Network, for a more fair and equitable tax system supported by adequate staffing and resources in Revenue and Customs.

Our parliamentary group and the justice unions parliamentary group actively supported the campaign by the Prison Officers Association against section 127 of the Criminal Justice Act which re-imposed legal curbs on trade union rights for prison officers in England and Wales. Despite an effective parliamentary campaign, which attracted significant press coverage, we were ultimately unsuccessful and the legislation passed.

Our Make Your Vote Count campaign, aimed at raising awareness of members' concerns with candidates in the local elections, was combined with campaigning against parties of the far right. Work is ongoing to implement the terms of motion A152 which included an instruction to the NEC to campaign for fairer and more proportional voting systems.

We continued to sponsor and play a major part in events and activities organised jointly with Unite Against Fascism and Love Music Hate Racism. The discovery that two serving civil servants were standing as candidates for the British National Party provided new momentum to the campaign to ban civil servants from membership of far right parties and negotiations with the Cabinet Office are ongoing.

Guidance was also issued to branches restating policy that membership of organisations that promote racist and fascist views is incompatible with the PCS rule book and membership of the union.

---

Campaigns and organising

Organising and learning services

Our organising and learning services department continued to work on developing the 2008 national organising strategy. The number of distributors and lay officials recorded in our commix membership system continued to grow. To support recruitment activity, we are developing a new range of recruitment materials including posters, leaflets and promotional items.

The trade union education review is nearing completion and recommendations will be taken forward in 2009. A review of our lifelong learning work is in progress and an interim report will be taken to conference 2009.

The young members' network continues to develop, its representatives are currently being elected and planning for January's annual young members' forum was proceeding at the time of writing. We have also been instrumental in working with the TUC to try and establish trade union studies as part of the core curriculum in schools.

We are working to establish numbers of agency workers within the civil service following motion A47/08. This data, combined with the membership mapping returns from each of our groups, will be used to target our organising and campaigning work in this area.

Work on the establishment of union structures for the UK Borders Agency continues. Our national president has facilitated joint meetings with the two groups - the Home Office and Revenue and Customs - and we stand ready to assist with the practical implementation of outcomes.

Campaigning work with UCU to oppose closure of the industrial relations unit at Keele University was supported through the use of branch briefings, web articles and the provision of speakers at rallies.

The department has prioritised work on the national campaign, in particular in the lead up to industrial action identifying priority areas and providing support to branches.

Call centres

A growing number of members work in call and contact centres. In 2008 the union published a call centre charter - a framework for workers' rights. Drawing on work done by reps in conjunction with the University of Strathclyde, this has improved support for members working in a contact centre environment and boosted our organising capability. A second successful national call centre forum was held in December which will enable us to extend support networks and group advisory committees.

Victimisation

Delegates at annual conference were shocked to learn of the victimisation of Eddie Fleming, a well respected branch officer at the Child Support Agency. The union has continued to give full legal and other support to Eddie who was unfairly dismissed.

Additional organising support is being provided to the branch which is also dealing with attacks on other reps at the Hastings site. The union is monitoring, with increasing concern, these developments in the CSA, which has now become the Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission.

Attempts continue at the highest level to resolve a management culture of opposition to trade unionism in the new organisation. We have also written to the Institute of Employment Rights proposing a joint conference on the wider issue of victimisation of trade unionists.

Eddie's Civil Service Appeals Board outcome is still awaited.

Campaigns

The year was dominated by campaigning around PCS's key issue of pay. Material was produced to support the national and group pay campaigns including leaflets, posters, bus adverts and, for the first time, dedicated website advertising.

This was backed up by a YouTube video, online petitions and emailing of MPs.

There were also specific campaigns, such as the equal pay reviews in the Department for Transport, including work on gender segregation, and the implementation of the gender duty within the department. Activity included parliamentary drop-in briefings, letter writing campaigns, and the DVLA 'no pay day'.

At the prestigious TUC communications awards, PCS won awards in half the categories we entered.

We were highly commended in the best campaign category for our 2007 Make Your Vote Count campaign and commended in both the best use of electronic communication category for our use of text messaging during strikes and best one-off publication for our campaign materials around job cuts and office closures.

Press and parliament

We have continued to build our press and parliamentary profile. PCS was mentioned in the media more than 2,000 times a month and in July we broke through 5,000 times for the first time.

Media training also went from strength to strength with a series of courses particularly aimed at supporting our campaigns. Further training modules will be developed in 2009.

Our parliamentary group met five times over the year in addition to a series of drop-in briefings, meetings with ministers and a well attended annual parliamentary reception marking 10 years of PCS.

This work was supported by high profile events at the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat party conferences and for the first time the Green party conference.

We also held a Northern Ireland reception for MPs at Westminster and our first official meeting with members of the Northern Ireland assembly following its restoration and election under the Good Friday agreement.

Design

Work continued in our in-house design team to improve the PCS brand and produce a huge amount of campaign materials, magazines and organising literature.

This amounts to 750 individual design jobs in addition to professionally designing and producing our all member magazine, PCS View, 15 magazines for groups and four other magazines, including Activate our magazine for reps, which incorporated the magazine for organisers, Organise. This amounts to more professionally produced magazines than any other UK trade union.

Print and advertising re-tender

During 2008 we retendered all our advertising, print and distribution contracts, placing an emphasis on quality and value for money and prioritising green and ethical considerations.

As well as saving more than £100,000 a year, from the start of next year we will aim to print all materials, including magazines and campaign literature, on a minimum of Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) accredited paper and, where possible, recycled paper.

FSC means the paper is supplied from sustainable sources and is the only forest certification system that is supported by all major environmental groups.

The new advertising contract should mean increased income to PCS, including limited advertising on the PCS website, initially for PCS+ providers.

Website

Conference 2008 saw the relaunch of the PCS website, its fifth incarnation, with many new features reflecting our focus as a campaigning and organising union.

The new design, featuring streamlined navigation and a built-in search engine, was undertaken following extensive consultation with members and has proved popular with users.

New campaigning tools include online petitions, email alerts and technology that allows us to more effectively lobby MPs and other elected representatives.

The site also contains news and comment from the union, as well as enhanced sites for our groups and regional offices.

More than 100 staff and reps have been trained on the new system, so there is now more scope for groups and national branches to use the website to communicate with members.

The redesign also conforms with international accessibility standards to reduce barriers to disabled users accessing information online.

---

PCS structure and services

Legal services

Providing quality advice and support for PCS reps on handling personal cases is a vital service that can improve conditions for members and the standing of the union in the workplace.

We have issued guides on many different aspects of personal case handling, including the 'Law at work' booklet, distributed to each branch annually, and the revised personal case folder, redistributed at conference.

PCS reps can also access advice and guidance through the resources section of the PCS website. This contains guides, details of training courses, and the employment law scheme with Thompsons Solicitors where designated and trained union reps can directly access legal advice and support. A branch briefing summarising all these resources and the work of our legal and personal case department was issued to branches and conference delegates.

We also continue to represent members, their partners and dependent children who have suffered personal injury at work and have recovered substantial sums. A legal advice contact card for non-employment related advice was issued to each member with View in April.

Through motion A136, delegates at annual conference called on the national executive (NEC) to examine arrangements with legal providers. In response the NEC has agreed a formal review of legal services that will encompass all aspects of support provided by PCS, plus the services and relationships with each of our legal advice suppliers.

Motion A138 sought the establishment of a legal telephone helpline for reps and arrangements for this are in place. We will be advertising its availability during early 2009.

Credit union

The work to establish a PCS credit union continued with a number of roadshows across the country, getting more members signed up and expressing interest in volunteering to run the credit union.

Detailed work preparing the case for presentation to the Financial Services Authority is progressing well. A decision will be taken shortly on the official launch date for the credit union.

PCS+

Under the PCS+ badge, we continue to offer a range of membership services which are well received and used by members. These also provide a useful income derived through commissions and advertising.

Our annual 'Essentials guide' is sent to members with the February edition of View magazine and to new members with their membership card. Copies of the current edition are also available from branch secretaries. This guide sets out all the services and discounts available. 

---

National executive committee attendance 2008

In accordance with PCS rule 7.22, this table shows the attendance record of national executive committee (NEC) members at meetings of the NEC and sub-committees between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2008.

 

Table showing the attendance record of NEC members

NEC	Committees	Sub-committees
Janice Godrich	30 (31)	7 (8)
Dave Bean	30 (31)	15 (16)
Sue Bond	30 (31)	11 (13)
John McInally	30 (31)	15 (15)
Glenys Morris	26 (31)	6 (7)
Ian Albert	27 (31)	14 (19)
Mark Baker	26 (31)	3 (5)
Diane Breen	15 (18)	0 (1)
Alan Brown	28 (31)	5 (6)
Paula Brown	15 (18)	2 (3)
Moira Campbell	4 (13)	0 (0)
Christine Chorlton	29 (31)	16 (21)
Steve Comer	20 (31)	11 (14)
Tony Conway	27 (31)	2 (4)
Alan Dennis	28 (31)	3 (4)
Joy Dunn	24 (31)	3 (6)
Mary Ferguson	20 (31)	0 (1)
Derrick Gartshore	25 (31)	3 (6)
Cheryl Gedling	30 (31)	5 (7)
Kevin Greenway	27 (31)	3 (3)
Zita Holbourne	29 (31)	8 (8)
John Jamieson	28 (31)	4 (5)
Martin John	14 (21)	5 (7)
Kevin Kelly	2 (3)	0 (1)
Adam Khalif	18 (18)	2 (4)
Neil Licence	29 (31)	6 (8)
Marion Lloyd	27 (31)	4 (6)
Dominic McFadden	29 (31)	6 (6)
Kevin McHugh	30 (31)	9 (16)
John Moffat	10 (18)	0 (1)
Chris Morrison	26 (31)	8 (17)
Andrew Reid	31 (31)	3 (3)
Dave Richards	27 (31)	4 (16)
Victoria Steeples	29 (31)	4 (6)
Graham Taylor	10 (13)	0 (7)
Hector Wesley	31 (31)	4 (5)
Jake Wilde	11 (18)	0 (2)
Paul Williams	26 (31)	4 (8)
Rob Williams	28 (31)	2 (5)
Danny Williamson	8 (13)	0 (1)
Garry Winder	25 (31)	7 (18)
Sevi Yesildalli	1 (13)	0 (4)

 The figures in brackets show the number of occasions on which the members could have attended. Absence could be due to other urgent union business, sick leave or domestic leave.