PCS General Secretary writes to Labour leader as national ballot launches

PCS General Secretary Fran Heathcote has today (18) written to Sir Keir Starmer encouraging him to meet with her to discuss our ongoing national dispute as well as Labour’s plans for the civil service should they take office this year.

For many months polls have indicated a Labour victory at the next general election, and with Sir Keir seeking a meeting with senior civil servants to discuss future planning, the general secretary has taken the opportunity to highlight the union’s ongoing campaign. Fran urged the Labour leader to sit down and work constructively with PCS to ensure our members' demands are met should a change in government take place.

In writing to Sir Keir, Fran has highlighted the concerning trends within the civil service, she states that “the civil service has become a minimum wage employer. Departments are forced by statute to raise the wages of the lowest-paid civil servants year on year as the statutory minimum wage rises.

This has now led to an eradication of pay differentials at administrative assistant and administrative officer level despite there being clear differentials in levels of responsibility at those grades. If action is not taken immediately to address this problem, it will shortly extend to the executive officer grade. That would leave the 3 most junior grades in the civil service all earning minimum wage. This is clearly an unacceptable state of affairs. We would urge any incoming UK Government to engage with us to resolve these problems alongside exploring solutions to deal with the outdated and unfair system of multiple bargaining units which only compounds the issue of pay inequality across the sector. PCS calls on the next government to fix endemic discrimination and unfairness within civil service pay structures.

Although Sir Keir has never met with PCS leadership since he has taken office, it is hoped that since he has requested access to civil servants, he will want to engage with the biggest union representing government workers, particularly during a period of dispute.

The PCS national ballot has launched today (18) and will run until 13 May. Members are urged to vote yes and support the union’s demands for decent pay, pensions justice and job security.