Activate: ‘When we stand together, we win’
In her latest column for Activate, Fran writes about the ongoing chaos in the administration of the civil service pensions, recent wins by PCS members and upcoming Together Alliance demonstration on 28 March.
Thousands of members are facing delays, anguish and hardship because of the chaotic situation in the administration (or maladministration) of civil service pensions.
Because this is affecting recently retired members as well as those considering voluntary exits, PCS has been working hard to get a solution for everyone in our negotiations with the Cabinet Office.
Thanks to PCS pressure, the Cabinet Office has agreed to pay interest on late lump sum and pension payments at Bank of England base rate plus 1% (base rate currently 3.75%), and has instructed employers to offer £5,000 hardship loans to scheme members who have not received their pensions. We continue to push for a proper compensation scheme.
The outsourced provider of civil service pensions has recently transferred from MyCSP to Capita – and both companies bear some of the blame for the current situation.
Our negotiators were therefore gobsmacked when it was revealed to us that Capita has been nominated as the preferred bidder for the shared services contract which processes payroll for civil servants across the DWP, Home Office, Defra and MoJ.
These are rewards for failure – and will also create anxiety for members that their payroll could suffer the same fate as civil service pension payments.
We are asking members to use our e-action to protest against this outsourcing. Remember that this government promised “the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation.”
Improved offers
It’s no wonder that with all their broken promises, voters and members are abandoning the Labour party. Well done to Hannah Spencer of the Greens for seeing off Reform in the Gorton and Denton by-election. As she said: “I don’t think it’s extreme or radical to think working hard should get you a nice life.”
Yet too often low pay and high housing costs are driving down workers’ living standards. That’s why we join unions: to stand together and fight for better pay and conditions.
That’s what our members at the Met Police did. They took multiple days of strike action over the past year and have won a 4.2% uplift on their pay and the location allowance and a £900 one-off payment to settle the London allowance dispute.
A big shoutout to our members in MOPAC, who took action from 24 to 26 February in their campaign for fair pay. I was proud to support their picket lines which were loud, vibrant and full of energy. A cost-of-living increase is a modest demand for the work they do overseeing the Met Police – a job that has never been more important.
At the British Library, members have also won a significant increase on the 1.6% pay offer they originally received. The six-month-long dispute has ended with a consolidated increase of 4% for some grades and an additional £2,000 uplift for others.
And at the Tate Galleries, strike action by members resulted in management making a consolidated pay offer which is 50 to 80% higher than its original offer. Our membership there has also increased by 125%.
When we stand together, we win. That’s a message in the workplace and in our communities, which is why PCS will always oppose those who seek to divide us.
PCS is proud to be supporting the Together Alliance, rejecting the hatred and division of the far right. On Saturday 28 March, I hope as many PCS members as possible are part of a massive demonstration in London for unity over division.