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PCS at the party conferences

12 November 2008

At the Labour Party conference, general secretary Mark Serwotka emphasized the need for a public debate on welfare reform; a view backed by fringe meeting chair Joan Humble - an MP and member of the work and pensions select committee - who stressed "the important job hard working civil servants do" in her constituency.

Lively debates around the issue of how public services are provided characterized our contributions to this autumn’s party political conferences.

At the Labour Party conference, general secretary Mark Serwotka emphasized the need for a public debate on welfare reform; a view backed by fringe meeting chair Joan Humble – an MP and member of the work and pensions select committee – who stressed “the important job hard working civil servants do” in her constituency.

PCS national executive member Steve Comer chaired another well attended fringe at the Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth where speakers included Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesperson Jenny Willott MP and PCS vice president John McInally.

Jenny said she had a number of concerns over the government’s approach, including whether the private sector had the capacity to take on extra work. Both Jenny and John questioned the government’s motivation and warned that payment by results could result in the job seeking community being divided, with private sector providers focusing on those who were closer to the jobs market.

At the Conservative Party conference we raised a number of concerns over low pay, welfare reform and job cuts. Our attendance served to demonstrate the need for the party to modernise its idea of public servants.

Elsewhere, PCS broke new ground by being the only trade union at the autumn Green Party conference. Delegates welcomed us and supported our calls for fair pay for public servants and an end to the privatization of public services. We also managed to gain unanimous support for statutory time off for union environmental reps.

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