Public and Commercial Services Union

A social conscience

Kicking off the final morning of conference, delegates agreed to establish a legal helpline, similar to that run by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, to support reps with personal cases (A138).

Conference condemned the decision to close the Centre for Industrial Relations at Keele University and agreed to support the Univeristy and College Lecturers’ Union’s campaign to prevent the loss of jobs (A149).

Andy Gelfin, HMRC Stoke, spoke passionately about the UCU’s widely supported campaign with support from a number of branches including HMRC Dorset and Land Registry Stevenage.

“Prison overcrowding undermines the rehabilitation of prisoners and the work of union members,” said HMRC Benton Park View in moving motion A150 which condemns Jack Straw MP’s amendments to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill.

These would remove prison officers’ right to strike. Conference agreed to support our members and those of the Prison Officers Association who may be affected and campaign against the proposals.

An increase in the minimum wage to £8.25 – two thirds of male earnings; the abolition of lower rates for young workers and the ability of unions to take cases to tribunal for groups of workers for breeches of legislation, were the demands of motion A151.

The motion was moved by DWP South Humber’s Stuart Andrews who talked about the “huge rises in fuel and food bills” over the last year which disproportionately affect low paid workers. Stuart urged conference to make the minimum wage fair for all. He was seconded by Declan Power DWP west London and the motion was carried.

A152 called for the stepping up of our Make Your Vote Count campaign, a continuation of the fight against far right political parties and a move to a proportional voting system in council and parliamentary elections.

Moving, Mark Serwotka for the national executive, praised the excellent work of our MYVC coordinators and all the PCS members who have kept up the pressure on local election candidates.

Several speakers spoke in support but Richard Pryce for the Office for National Statistics queried whether a move to proportional representation would give far right racist political parties an advantage. Conference disagreed and passed the motion.

Equality and diversity

Zita Holbourne for the national executive moved the first motion in our equality section which called for race equality to be a priority bargaining agenda. Specific demands included a lobby of parliament; further work with the TUC; and legal advice on how the law can be strengthened.

“Stephen Lawrence’s family have fought tirelessly against institutional racism,” said Zita, emphasising the need to use all the powers at our disposal to fight on this issue.

Roland Lazarus, Prison Service London and Eastern, name checked the many government departments and agencies that are breaking the law in their race equality duties.

The motion was also backed by Denise Latimer, Cabinet Office, who spoke about the experiences of black members in her department who are concentrated in the lower grades, frequently given low box markings and overlooked for promotion.

Padrica Kennington added her support and the motion was overwhelmingly agreed.

Pete Cogbill, DWP Cornwall successfully moved motion A182 which calls on the national executive to campaign against age discrimination in the civil service.

Pete also moved A183 which urges the national executive to use all the means at its disposal, including legal action, to end the discrimation of older people in their pensions. The motion was unanimously carried.

A184 focused on the experiences of learning disabled people as they look for work. Ruth Saunders, DWP HQ London, said people were often caught between “the devil of benefits and the deep blue sea of trying to find a job”.

Sandra Durkin, LSC West Midlands, seconded citing the statistic that only 5-17% of learning disabled people are in work.

Ravi Kurup, said the motion would make a real difference to people’s lives, benefiting “hundreds of parents, hundreds of children’s lives.” The motion was carried.

Conference also agreed to heighten awareness of less obvious disabilities (A185) as moved by DWP Dundee Pensions Centre.

Lorna Nelson-Hamiah, Home Office Apollo House, moved motion A186 on the experiences of part time workers saying:

“Eighty three per cent of part time workers in the Home Office are women but they are only successful when applying for posts 13 per cent of the time. Our department clearly doesn’t cater for a diverse workplace.” Conference agreed to look into the barriers faced by part time workers and publish recommendations for developing a bargaining agenda

Hector Wesley, national executive, moved a motion (A187) on improving PCS’s structures for black members by telling conference that “much good work has been done but deficinices still remain in the system.

Seconding the motion Adam Khalif asked conference to look around and consider, “where are all the black members?”

Conference agreed to take forward our work on improving the representation of under represented groups including:

• developing regional networks for black members;
• improving membership monitoring;
• supporting groups to strengthen existing black members’ structures.

Jan Baxter, DWP Herefordshire and Worcestershire, successfully called for PCS to actively campaign for the census to include questions about lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people (A188).

“Too often we see LGBT people excluded from services just because we don’t know their proportion in the population. We want to know what the changing pattern of life in Britain looks like.”

Campaigning for an improved system for taking equal pay cases was the subject of motion A189 as moved by John Moloney, CLG-DFT London. Conference passed the motion.

International issues

Beginning our international section, Hugh Lanning moved A197 on behalf of the national executive calling for endorsement for the next stage of our campaign for a free Palestine.

There was some opposition; either because the speakers felt we should focus our work on domestic issues or because, as James Hasty, DWP Hastings pointed out “there is a war in the Middle East and that means there are two sides involved.”

James illustrated his point with a roll call of the atrocities Israelis had suffered at the hands of Palestinian terrorists. Nevertheless, Hugh successfully defended the motion which was passed.

Child labour was the focus of motion A198. Karen Nicholson, DfES Runcorn spoke movingly of the abuse of children as young as five in south east Asia who are forced to work from six in the morning to produce cheap clothes for westerners. Stunted growth, bone diseases and eye problems are common.

Conference unanimously agreed to continue to publicise the scandal of child labour and encourage members to lobby their MPs and strengthen international legal protection to ensure children are not exploited.

Protecting public services

MoD Scotland West successfully called for the union to step up our campaigning around protecting public services, including: putting pressure on the TUC to be more proactive; recruiting members in privatised areas; and calling for work to be brought back in house.

Making links with workers in the third sector and publicising the false economy of privatisation was the subject of motion A7 which was successfully moved by HMRC East Kilbride Revenue.

The final motions of the day passed were A112, A47 and A190.

These were on improving health and safety in contact centres; increasing recognition and recruitment among agency workers; and encouraging greater participation among black members.