MPs ‘hammering’ government on behalf of PCS members

MPs are “hammering” the UK Government on behalf of PCS members over the issues that affect them such as the Capita pensions scandal and outsourcing, the pay campaign, and industrial disputes across the union, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell MP told our conference this morning.

John, who is chairing the cross-party PCS Parliamentary Group for the second time around, said they have used every parliamentary mechanism possible – such as debates, questions, interventions and meetings with ministers – to support PCS’ campaigns and policy aims. 

“We've been hammering them on the civil service pensions issue and Capita. It is beyond me how Capita gets awarded any government contracts at the moment,”  said John, who spoke at the PCS demonstration on Monday (18 May) outside the Capita AGM in London.

Insourcing the only solution 

“We've said to the government, the only solution is insourcing. Kick Capita out, and bring it back in.” MPs are backing PCS pressure on the government to fulfil its promise on insourcing with a strategy to end the contracts and bring them back in-house which, John told delegates, “could be one of the most radical and effective changes [the government] could do for hundreds of thousands of workers.”

A packed year for the parliamentary group has also included work on the Employment Rights Act, pressurising the government over cuts to disability benefits and DWP office closures.

He said the group has joined PCS in its “outrage” over Labour’s attempts to “out-Reform Reform” by creating its own style of hostile environment for immigrants and asylum seekers. This includes by changing the rules on skilled worker visas, which has seen some PCS members working in DWP deported because their earnings no longer meet the threshold.

Our supportive MPs have objected to cuts in FCDO, British Council and DfE, and supported myriad picket lines including at the Met Police, Border Force, and the UK Parliament itself where security staff took successful strike action.

Offering alternatives 

“We haven't just been on picket lines, haven't just engaged in debates, we've offered alternatives as well – time after time, the union has published alternative policy statements, and I think one of the most effective has been about the alternative that there is to the hostile environment,” said John, referring to the union’s ‘Safe and Secure Routes’ proposal.

John paid tribute to outgoing national president Martin Cavanagh, and general secretary Fran Heathcote for their work and support throughout the year, as well as PCS officers and staff.

‘Wake up to fascism’

Addressing the current wider political environment, the long-serving MP said that after 50 years in politics “this is the most dangerous, critical moment in my life.”

“In the 1970s the far right and the fascists marched in the streets. We never thought they'd ever be elected to parliament, and we certainly never thought they could actually be elected to parliament and then form a government. Our job is to wake people up to that.”

He said the far right had seized an opportunity to garner support in a “traditional way,” by leaping on working class people's grievances about how they've been treated and scapegoating a specific group, in this case asylum seekers.

“We have to recognise it's the same old strategy, but also I think we have to be honest; that has been enabled by the failure of the Starmer government to address the real needs of working-class people.”

He said members should appreciate the importance of PCS’s role in the next period of the Labour government, which is likely to see a change in leadership.  

“PCS is a key player in shaping the political agenda of this last two and a half years of this government. Why? Because you've been the font of ideas for a long period of time – economic strategy, individual policies, how to administer policies, how to ensure that they're successful. You've been not just a union, you've been like a thinktank that can mobilise support in a way others don't and, in addition to that, you've been able to bring other unions together.”

He said the potential to shift the balance of wealth and power in favour of working people is “enormous”.

“But what it means is what you've been debating here today. It’s that key ingredient that we discovered as a movement and that is our very foundation – solidarity.”

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