Scottish Activist

Issue 19 Autumn 2010

Public and Commercial Services Union|pcs.org.uk

INSIDE • There is an alternative and a better way • Make your vote count • The PCS campaign • Trades councils, alliances and community campaigns • Scottish recruitment drive • Action across Scotland • From Catalan to Calman

Debbie Mallet, TUC Congress young rep of the year winner

2 Scottish Activist Autumn 2010

Welcome

The PCS Scotland plan

The Con Dem Coalition plan an autumn of austerity as they unveil the most ferocious attack on public services in their 20 October Comprehensive Spending Review. Jobs, pay, pensions, services, sick pay and even trade union facility time are all under assault. Previously unthinkable cuts of up to 40% in many UK departments will ravage and wreck the services our members

deliver to the public. Even under devolution, after a decade of pro-public service consensus, the consequences of UK cuts will be passed down through Barnett adjustments resulting in cuts in jobs, services, pay and conditions.

Our union rejects the neo-liberal assumptions behind these attacks that seek to smash the public sector as we know. We do not accept that cuts are necessary. It makes no sense to cut jobs at a time of necessary economic recovery and here in Scotland whether the cuts come from the UK or wrapped in the Saltire, they will rage havoc to the already fragile Scottish economy and will throw Scottish workers out of work, making them even more dependent on benefits.

We are not all in it together. PCS has an alternative economic strategy that shows not a penny need be cut or a job lost – tax justice and investment in jobs and services instead of callous cuts. The STUC are co-ordinating a major response to the cuts culminating in a mass demonstration in Edinburgh on 23 October under the banner – “there is a better way”. We must all mobilise to come to Edinburgh to show the strength of feeling of our members.

There is an alternative to cutsLynn Henderson, PCS Scottish secretary writes

The PCS Scotland Committee has published its first Annual Plan which will determine the priorities for the committee

over the coming year. This has come about through branch

consultation and workshops with staff and lay members of the committee.

Through the plan, the Scotland Committee will form new ways of working with a greater role for the lay activists involved. The up to date plan will be a permanent feature on the PCS Scotland web page at: pcs.org.uk/scotland

The National Executive Committee is reviewing office accommodation needs. It is seeking to ensure that our staff and activist facilities reflect the needs of the union in the future. The recommendation is that there should be one main PCS site in Scotland, based in Glasgow with enhanced staff and activists facilities and a small staff satellite office in Edinburgh for staff who wish to remain.

At the PCS Scotland AGM a branch consultation has been launched seeking views and suggestions on the office arrangements and facilities in the future in Scotland. The consultation is being led by Jeff Evans, Senior National Officer for devolved areas. Please send your comments to jeffe@pcs.org.uk

PCS Scotland accommodation review

Summer 2010 Autumn Activist 3

MYVC

PCS representatives from each of the devolved areas met in Edinburgh this Summer to look back at the Make your vote count (MYVC) UK general election campaign, and begin the plan for next year’s elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

MYVC is a yearlong activity and not just at election times. Political engagement is now a constant feature of local branch and area activity, as it is at national and regional level. The new e-actions allow members to keep in touch with their elected politicians on a number of PCS campaigns.

Our MYVC campaign for the Scottish Parliament election will be important in highlighting the PCS alternative to the cuts, there will also be more co-ordinated activity with other unions to show unity against cuts and maximise attendance.

CSCS lobbying the LiberalsIn the campaign to defend the Civil Service Compensation Scheme, PCS took a very focused approach to lobbying MPs. As the Con Dem proposals were so outrageous, PCS secured the support of Labour MPs who were whipped to Oppose the Superannuation Bill. This allowed us to maximise our attention of

vulnerable Lib Dem MPs who didn’t support their Party Leadership’s compliance with the Tories on this issue. With a number of Scottish Lib Dems showing their support for our members, we are reminded that targeted lobby really can make a difference.

For more informationFor information on MYVC in Scotland contact joy@pcs.org.ukFor details on MYVC training contact karenf@pcs.org.uk

Holyrood election countdown

A Scottish activist speaks

Brian Carroll is employed by Scottish Court Service, and has been a member since 1979. Brian is currently Branch Secretary of Scottish Courts Branch.

“I became involved in Make Your Vote Count because I felt that I had to actually do something; to take action personally, instead of sitting around moaning and groaning about what or who is doing this or that about the issues and difficulties we are all facing. We all need to start thinking about what is going on around us and if we don’t agree with it, start doing something about it!

This Government will not stop until it has decimated civil and public services and those who work for them. It will make us all pay for the excesses of the rich and the bankers with our jobs; not theirs! It is clear to me – we are not all in this together; only some of us!

The time has arrived for real cohesive, visible, effective action and campaigning to be embraced by all members to protect the jobs and services we hold and provide to the communities, society and country we live in and I want to play my small part in that.

Throughout the World trade unionists have lost their jobs, been deported and killed since the Tolpuddle Martyrs stood up for what they believed in. Standing up is a tradition we all now need to uphold. It is better to try and do something than to do nothing at all and lobbying your MP, might take a little of your spare time, nothing more, to defend, protect and preserve your job and terms and conditions is not really too much to ask, is it? It is so easy to do, there is no excuse or reason not to.

As well as lobbying my own MP, I encourage members to do likewise. If MPs do not commit to, or support what PCS are trying to achieve, I encourage

members to write back with model letters and suggest they go and see their MP face to face. This can be more influential and successful in persuading your MP to support the union’s campaigns than just corresponding with them

I do not expect to achieve miracles; only that I can say I have done everything I possibly can to protect our jobs, the vital and beneficial services we provide and the terms and conditions to which we are entitled.

There are alternatives to cuts. PCS has considered, well reasoned and evidenced arguments that I for one fully support. So, please as union members do everything you can to support PCS campaigns. Put the arguments to our politicians and win the case!”

Better to do something than nothing at all – Brian Carroll

This government will not stop until

it has decimated civil and public services and those who work for them. It will make us all pay for the excesses of the rich and the bankers with our jobs; not theirs! It is clear to me – we are not all in this together, only some of us

4 Scottish Activist Summer 2010

There is an alternative . . . there is a better wayPCS is standing shoulder to shoulder with other unions and community groups in the fight back against the cuts. The union’s alternative economic strategy shows that not a single penny need be cut or a single job lost. Our alternative includes fair taxation, investment in public services and that the public sector should be used to build greener transport, energy and homes as a way out of recession. The banking sector, now in public hands should be regulated and profits and massive bonuses should be turned to socially useful investment in public services.

PCS is strongly supporting the STUC campaign “there is a better way”.

All-Scotland campaign forumIt is now down to us all to bring confidence to our members that this is the fight for our livelihoods, jobs and services like never before. If the UK government continues with its plans, as our General Secretary said to the TUC congress “industrial action is inevitable”. And we will not stand alone.

At the campaign forum on 23 September Assistant General Secretary Chris Baugh outlined the detailed strategy to reps from all over Scotland. The key message is that we must unite to fight the cuts. Never before has such public sector unity been necessary and never before has such unity been possible. PCS is co-

operating with UNISON and other public sector unions, trades councils and community organisations in every part of the country to fight the cuts.

Working locally in unity and solidarityIt is time for our town committees to get active again. As well as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, we are now

setting up an Aberdeen town committee to campaign in the city across civil and public service and commercial sector employers.

In Glasgow, PCS reps have been supporting the UNISON Glasgow city branch in their Culture and Leisure dispute. In Edinburgh, PCS has been working with Edinburgh Trades Council to set up an Edinburgh Public Service Alliance.

Get involved in your Trades CouncilAn important forum for working in solidarity with other trade unions locally is through participation in Trades Councils. Branches are encouraged to affiliate to their local trades council and send a representative along to its meetings.

Trades councils are a democratic forum for local trade union branches to co-operate and campaign together locally. Where PCS has representation at local trades councils, a great deal of support has been given to the union’s campaigns. Our activists who are involved locally are also able to bring on a practical local level solidarity with other local trade unionists in their struggles.

PCS Scotland has mapped branch participation in local trades councils across Scotland. What we know: 11% of branches are affiliated to a trades council,

Industrial action is inevitable and we

will not stand alone

There is analternative...

The case against cuts in public spending

1.3mtotal jobs at risk

over the next

five years

Public and Commercial Services Union | pcs.org.uk

0%pay rise for the next

two years

£658,000the amount a

compliance officer collects each year

20,000jobs axed

since 2004

There is an alternative to the cuts... create jobs, don’t cut them

Summer 2010 Scottish Activist 5

Campaigning across Scotland

There is an alternative . . . there is a better waywith 7% of these being regularly represented at meetings, and 3.5% of Branches providing an officer.

Active invoIvement in trades councils is key to our local campaigning activity and the Scotland Committee is encouraging greater participation.

Branches should bid for funding each year to affiliate to trades councils. Branches spread geographically should

consider affiliating to the trades council in the area with the highest number of members, and/or where a PCS member particularly wishes to attend.

Branches affiliated to trades councils should send contact details of delegates to joy@pcs.org.uk

Join the campaign for jobs, services, fair taxation, and a living wageA message from Grahame Smith, Scottish TUC general secretary.

Too many politicians and too many media commentators are peddling the

myth that the only possible response to the current economic crisis is austerity.  They are proposing an array of measures which will hit the poorest hardest and impact on basic services.

Scotland’s trade unions are united in a campaign which challenges that myth.  In truth, the only sustainable and sensible response is to promote growth and ensure fairness through creating jobs and protecting services, through fair taxation and a Scottish living wage.  We are not alone in that viewOver the next months we will work alongside community and campaigning organisations to argue for policies which will promote hope for young people, fairness for the vulnerable and services for those who need them. 

As a first stage in that campaign we are holding a Scotland-wide demonstration on 23 October in Edinburgh.  In the run up to that day, we will also be travelling the length of the country to provide a

platform for Scotland’s communities to have their say about the real issues we are facing.

Keep abreast of the campaignAt our website www.thereisabetterway.org you can:• View daily videos uploaded by community and campaigning organisations • Get full details of the 23 October demonstration • Download or order campaign materials • Read more about the myths about the crisis and the STUC • Make a nomination for the weekly ‘Pinocchio award for misleading the public’ • Make a nomination for the ‘wooden heart for callous cuts’ award.

• 10 branches are affiliated to one (or more) trades councils• Of those 10, 6 are represented at trades council meetings on a regular basis• Of these 6, 3 PCS members hold officer posts (2 as Chair, and 1 as Secretary)

For more informationFor information on the campaign or to get involved visit pcs.org.uk

1.3mtotal jobs at risk over the next

five years

25%cuts will devastate

public services 40%cut to

IT contracts

There is an alternative to the cuts... create jobs, don’t cut them

6 Scottish Activist Autumn 2010

Action across Scotland

PCS Scotland recruitment driveUnion density in Scotland overall is amongst the best in the union, but even here, we can identify in just 10 target branches over 7,000 potential members.

PCS Scotland is pioneering an exciting pilot recruitment project supported by the national union and we are asking all branches to get involved if they can. Project 500 gives us, as a union, a rare opportunity to set the agenda at a time when our members are facing the biggest assault ever on their jobs, conditions and services.

We are calling on branches to actively support a two month recruitment blitz to assist us in bringing 500 new members into our union in Scotland between 1 October and 30 November. An intake of 500 new members would generate a much needed income of £60,000 per year for PCS as well as allowing us to maintain or even increase our strength during this time of savage cuts.

Special material to support the drive will be distributed to all branches that express an interest.

The Scottish youth network are organising a battle of the bands competition a part of the PCS young members’ week and as a contribution to the STUC “there is a better way” campaign. The mix of music

and speeches will highlight the PCS and STUC alternatives to the cuts. The event will take place on Saturday 2 October at the STUC. Further detail from jude@pcs.org.uk

Battle of the bandsPCS nationally looked at the training needs of reps with a view to mounting our campaign on a successful and informed footing. This meant the previously advertised programme would need to be amended to allow for campaigning courses and workshops in place of less urgent training.

We want as many branches as possible to participate in the training and the programme has been designed to provide maximum opportunity for attendance.

1. A three day “PCS National Campaign Course” – consisting of a. the one-day recruitment course b. the campaigning skills course2. A half day Public Speaking Workshop3. A short day Building Solidarity Course4. A series of briefings as follows:- a. Key messages about public services PCS’s alternative b. Privatisation c. TUPE d. Redundancy rights e. Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs)Check out the PCS Scotland website for dates as well as other courses running this term.

Campaigning programme

Women get organisedThe first ever PCS Scottish women’s network is meeting on 4 October at Jury’s Inn Hotel, Glasgow. This event is fully subscribed. Further details on future women’s network activities are available from cherylg@pcs.org.uk

Autumn 2010 Scottish Activist 7

Action across Scotland

Dear Michael . . .“The Ministry of Defence employs upwards of 10,000 people in Scotland, a further 6,000 ex civil servants working on defence contracts. Although the MoD is “protected” department, it is still facing up to 20% cuts in the Spending Review. The Treasury want to put the full costs of Trident into the core MoD budget, another 40% of the budget ring fenced and even deeper cuts in the remaining defence budget.

Liam Fox speculated that 20,000 civilian jobs will go, concentrating on the Army’s work in Afghanistan. RAF bases at Lossiemouth and Kinloss and the Navy port at Rosyth would face closure or being mothballed. 4,000 jobs are threatened and ripping apart communities. Lossiemouth and Kinloss bases they grossed over £158 million per annum to the local Moray economy.

DWP Scottish campaign forum

PCS activists joined forces with the Poverty Alliance and the Scottish Pensioners Forum to campaign against public sector cuts. A large number of PCS activists joined forces in the STUC Centre at the end of the Summer to plan a DWP campaign strategy for Scotland.

Bringing DWP activists face to face with pensioners reps and those who campaign against poverty is an excellent strategy in building support for our campaigns against the cuts.

Redundancy pay protected in SE and SDSUnder existing redundancy terms staff, aged 50 or over could access early retirement terms and pension payment. A change to pensions legislation raised to 55 the minimum retirement age except in some exceptional cases.

Both employers proposed to raise the age from which staff in a redundancy

situation could access their pensions from 50 to 55 – a significant detriment to entitlement reduced to a maximum of two years pay. Enhancement of pensions can typically cost an employer as much as five years salary.

PCS argued that the law allows for exceptions in certain circumstances. In these cases, staff should retain the right

to access pensions at age 50 if they are made redundant and were members of the pension scheme before 6 April 2006. Both employers have now confirmed that PCS are correct, reinstating full redundancy terms. If not for their intervention hundreds of staff would have suffered a significant detrimental change to their redundancy terms.

An extract from MoD Group letter to Michael Moore MP, Sec of State for Scotland

HMRC battles the Scottish weather Protesters against further reductions in HMRC services in Scotland braved adverse weather conditions early in September.

The PCS roadshow to raise awareness of the impact that the reduction of face to face enquiry centres began in Perth in the lashing rain, where the local enquiry centre is to reduce to 10am – 4pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays only.

By the time the brave campaigners reached Dumfries for a similar event they were equipped with a gazebo against the gales – which was featured in local press coverage.

PCS Scotland, Glenorchy House, 20 Union Street, Edinburgh EH1 3LR Telephone: 0131 556 0407 Website: www.pcs.org.uk/scotland

8 Scottish Activist Summer 2010

Last word

Visiting Barcelona for the first time promised to be an exciting holiday, but a couple of days before going we were told of a demonstration planned while we were due to be there.

Five years ago the Catalan parliament passed a new constitution which stated its position as a nation and not a region of Spain – something which we in Scotland are familiar with. Despite the fact that the law had been negotiated with the Spanish parliament and had 74% support in a referendum, a member of the People’s Party (acknowledged as Spain’s right wing party) took the law to the Constitutional Court which decided amongst other things that Catalonia is not allowed to call itself a nation, to give preference to its own language nor have its own flag or anthem.

On 10 July a demonstration by 1.5 million people (according to police estimates) took to the streets of Barcelona to show their contempt for the Spanish court, but more importantly to demonstrate their support for Catalonia. Infinitely more people than the next night when Spain won the World Cup thanks to the Catalans of Barca!

Having demonstrated on the streets of many cities and towns on a whole raft of issues, I can without fear of contradiction say this was a unique event. Not because of the numbers and the fact that even at 7.00pm it was still 30°c, but because the focus was positive, it was for Catalonia, it was united in favour of a shared goal. There were no real banners or posters, just the three variations of the senyera, the Catalan flag. One lighter moment was when the organisers tried to make space for the huge Catalan flag with the cry of “Pasaran”. Needless to say the response was “No Pasaran!”

With the Calman Commission having reported on further devolution of powers, the UK government proposing legislation to hand down such powers and the Scottish Government proposing a referendum on independence, when do

we expect to see a million people on the streets of Scotland?

Whilst a similar demonstration in Edinburgh is unlikely, there are many similarities between Catalonia and Scotland. The eighteenth century saw both countries lose their independence, 1707 for Scotland, and 1714 for Catalonia. Greater autonomy was achieved through popular demand with the Catalans fiercely declaring their differences from Spain in both cultural and political senses. A greater social awareness is claimed by Catalans over their Castilian cousins. Of course the Catalans also had to suffer Franco’s fascist government which banned their language and resurrected parliament, something we never wish to share with them.

So where do we in Scotland stand on greater autonomy? Like the setting up of the Scottish parliament in 1999, whatever direction we go in it has to have the support of the people of Scotland. And like the situation in Catalonia it has to be decided upon by the people of Scotland. In the words of Charles Stewart Parnell

“Nos altres decidem som una nacio”We have decided, we are a nation

PCS Scotland devolution policy forumThe UK coalition government is introducing a Scotland Bill, which seeks to devolve to Scotland increased devolved powers as identified by the Calman Commission.

In response to the Scotland Committee raising these issues with the NEC, a new NEC sub committee for devolved areas has been set up in order to discuss devolved matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

At its first meeting, the sub committee agreed that in the absence of clear policy on further devolution to Scotland it would call an activists Policy Forum. This will take place in Scotland in November. Branches will be notified of details and delegate entitlement. For further information contact lynnh@pcs.org.uk or jeffe@pcs.org.uk

“No man has the right to fix the boundary to the march of a nation. No man has a right to say ‘Thus far and no further shalt thou go’.”