Members' stories
His experiences as a PCS rep and an interest in employment law brought Xavier Boyle to the role of conciliator at the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), which provides advice on industrial relations and aims to help resolve workplace disputes before they get to a tribunal court.
Megan Riley-Pearce is a pensions administrator in MyCSP, which manages the civil service pension scheme contract that’s soon being moved over to outsourcing giant Capita. She is new to trade unionism and is now part of a prolonged strike over the company’s refusal to recognise PCS so it can take part in transfer talks.
Former Nottinghamshire firefighter Kim Allen made a major lifestyle change after retiring from the service at 50, by moving north to Orkney. He’s been working for Historic Environment Scotland as a steward at the neolithic site of Skara Brae, on the archipelago’s main island, for the last 11 years.
Since becoming a special constable while at university, policing has been Katie’s passion. Now a vetting officer for the Met – as well as being a single mum of three – she and hundreds of her civilian colleagues have been striking over a forced increase to the number of days working in the office, which she says has turned her world “upside down”.
Matt Pike’s title of ‘visitor assistant’ at Stonehenge doesn’t begin to reflect his many history-related pursuits inside and outside of work – storyteller, researcher, tour guide, TikTok content creator, and self-confessed history nerd being among them. He tells us what’s weird and wonderful about working at one of the UK’s most iconic landmarks.