Organising to win the pay ballot: Sat 9 or 16 June

PCS Annual Delegate Conference have voted overwhelmingly to call a national, statutory ballot on pay. We want all our activists and members to get involved and sign up for a special training day on 9 or 16 June.

The emergency motion - here - was carried overwhelmingly by delegates to conference. We will now be entering a period of intense activity when we aim to achieve, not just a long overdue pay rise, but also a stronger, more confident union, rejuvenated by the influx of a wave of new activists. The regional one-day events, to be held on 9 or 16 June, will discuss developing local strategies to deliver an overwhelming yes vote in a ballot.

To win the ballot we need more than 50% of our total membership to vote in the ballot by post. To achieve this we need a strategic approach in every workplace. To this end the strategic workshops will look at:

• Our national pay strategy and how we translate this into local action plans.
• How in each branch we can play to our strengths and minimise the impact of any weaknesses.
• How we engage with those members who don’t come to meetings, and are less likely to vote. 
• How we harness the energy of members currently underrepresented in our union e.g. black, disabled, women, LGBT and young members.
• How we win the next generation of workers (many of whom have no previous experience of trade unions) to become the future of PCS
• Developing a local plan that involves and maximises engagement with our members, particularly those who are less likely to vote.

All meetings will be held on either Saturday 9 or 16 June, starting at 10am and finishing no later than 3pm. Events will be held in the following towns and cities:

Saturday 9 June	Saturday 16 June
London Cardiff Liverpool Leeds Glasgow Peterborough Sheffield	Bristol Manchester Newcastle Birmingham

We are inviting all activists to register now - here. Meetings will be opened up to members who want to participate in the pay campaign and become actively involved in the union more generally, and members in your branches should be encouraged to register and attend.

We hope that every PCS activist and potential activist will join us so that we are able to prepare for the test ahead and ensure we are in the best possible position to win. Complete the form to register your interest now here.

Peter Lockhart
PCS National Organiser

Help phone banks for the PCS pay campaign

PCS are currently running a consultative ballot in the pay campaign and would like help from ARMs members to maximize the turnout.

Do you have any time to spare from Monday 30th October to Friday 3rd November 2017 to assist in staffing phone banks at local PCS Regional Offices? You would be using a script to phone members who have not yet voted to encourage them to take part in the ballot.

If so, please contact your Regional Office to find out more details and let them know when you can help. You can find their number here.

Equality and Human Rights guardians victimised

EHRC members stand firm

Tory hypocrisy over employment rights exposed as Equality and Human Rights Commission staff strike again over sackings and victimisation.

ARMs members may remember the long-running dispute over budget cuts and compulsory redundancies between members of PCS and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). You can play your part by supporting the Strikers.

PCS members at the Equality and Human Rights Commission are to take 20 days of rolling strike action starting today in support of their sacked colleagues. This follows 7 days of strike action taken between November 2016 and March this year.

The strike action includes the following dates:

• EHRC Glasgow - 15 May to 19 May 
• EHRC London - 22 May to 26 May 
• EHRC Cardiff - 29 May to 2 June
• EHRC Manchester - 5 June to 9 June. 

What ARMs members can do?
It is not an easy decision to take strike action. You can support our PCS members in the following ways:

• Send motions and letters of support from your regional branch to PCS at londonbargaining@pcs.org.uk. 
• Lobby your MP to expose the Government's hypocrisy (literature supporting the dispute is available from your PCS regional office). 
• If there is an EHRC office in your area, invite their PCS rep to your next meeting. 
• Go along to the picket line in your area. 
• Organise for your regional branch to get as many members as possible to visit the picket line. 
• Make a donation to our Fighting Fund which is used to support our members who take strike action. 

The key facts about this dispute are as follows:

Nine staff were given dismissal notices on 9 February, some by email with just 24 hours' notice; three members of staff were also sacked by email a few weeks later. After representations by PCS the EHRC have agreed to put staff back on to the pay roll but the dismissal notices have not been withdrawn and the staff concerned are banned from EHRC premises, their reinstatement is also part of the campaign

Agency staff
The Commission has spent over £260,000 on agency staff in the first 5 months of this year whilst at the same time trying to substantiate an argument that they need less staff. The union argues that the Commission have not justified the need to cut staff numbers.

However even if the Commission could justify a need for restructuring then the staff should be redeployed into Commission vacancies - more than 30 of which have been identified within the Commission, some of which are the equivalent grades of the sacked staff - or found roles in the wider civil service.

Equality
The EHRC is responsible for ensuring other public bodies consider the equality implications of their actions. Yet they have clearly failed to apply the same standards to themselves.

Of the eight union members issued notices of compulsory redundancy, six are black or minority ethnic, five are disabled and seven are older workers. Four are union reps and one was a lead negotiator opposing the cuts. PCS are now pursuing legal action against the EHRC for victimisation

Making the EHRC toothless
These cuts could threaten the Commission's UN-accredited status as a human rights body. Mark Serwotka says "The fact that the government has cut the Commission to a quarter of its original size demonstrates the Tories' lack of commitment to equality and human rights issues. Further budget and staff cuts would leave the commission toothless at a time when more needs to be done to tackle hate crime and discrimination."

More information on the dispute can be found on the PCS website, with more info on the renewed strike action here.

Barry Fuge
National Assistant Secretary
PCS ARMs