From Wrexham to Brighton - making PCS policy
Aled has just attended the PCS Wales national conference in Wrexham to debate motions for Wales, and will also be attending our annual delegate conference in Brighton in May, to debate and vote on national PCS policies and attitudes.
I was excited to attend the second PCS Wales conference a couple of weeks ago in Wrexham. I really enjoyed the guest speakers, especially in the context of the upcoming Senedd Elections in May. But if this year’s Wales conference had a theme, it was the necessity of fighting back against the far-right.
It felt like everybody in the room understood the threat we’re facing and the need for us all to work together across Wales to offer a progressive alternative that addresses working-class people’s concerns.
Devolution and decision-making
Another key debate was about devolved democracy in PCS. Welsh devolution has been around for as long as I’ve been alive, so it’s crucial that unions like PCS adapt the way they make decisions to factor in the wider political changes happening around them.
Now that there is a clear mechanism for branches in Wales to make decisions about Wales (without having to submit motions to PCS’s annual delegate conference), I’ll be encouraging members in my branch to think about motions that they could submit to next year’s Wales conference on issues that matter to them.
Brighton
I attended last year's PCS annual delegate conference (ADC) as a trainee delegate and had a great time, so I’m excited to go back in May as my branch’s delegate, getting stuck in with the union’s democratic process.
Because I'm very interested in green issues, international relations, and the idea of the 4-day week, I’m looking forward to hearing the debates around these topics.
ACORN affiliation
I have also put forward a motion for PCS to affiliate with ACORN, a community union which takes the principles underlying trade unions like PCS - that we are stronger when we come together through collective action to improve our conditions - and applies it at the community level around issues like housing, public services, debt poverty and tenants’ rights.
The type of support PCS members get from their trade union in work shouldn’t stop when they’re outside the workplace. That is why I think it makes sense for ACORN and PCS to work together to empower working-class communities.
Setting the LGBT agenda in the workplace
Before and after our ADC, there are other things that will keep me busy: as the LGBT+ rep for our branch, I've been reviewing our workplace’s out-of-date Transition at Work policy. Using what I learned from PCS’s Trans Equality training, I have met with HR and management to finalise and implement those changes. I’ve even used this as an example to show our members that, if they spot policies that don't look right, they can do something about them!