This is a cross-post from Howie’s Corner
The annual elections for the National Executive Committee of the PCS union have begun and members should be receiving their ballot papers over the next few days. It is important that every member takes the opportunity to have their say in this election, especially since so few actually do so.
Last year barely 11% of members took part and this is clearly not healthy for either the union’s internal democracy or for the future of PCS itself.
The current leadership of PCS under Mark Serwotka and the Socialist Party (led by John McInally and Janice Godrich) have managed to leave the union in the weakest and most isolated position of any union in the country.
Their policies have turned the union away from the political mainstream to the political fringe by aligning PCS with the far-left through policies such as “standing & supporting candidates” in Parliamentary elections, pushing for an (illegal) General Strike and proposing ill thought out disputes such as the one in the UKBA just before the Olympic games that handed the Tories an excuse on a plate to fundamentally undermine the unions through the virtual scrapping of trade union facilities in the civil service.
The far-left hide themselves behind a front organisation called the Democracy Alliance, which in reality represents anything but democracy. The group is dominated by the politics of the Socialist Party and its allies including the Socialist Workers Party. PCS is used and abused for their political agenda.
There is a need for PCS to be returned urgently to the political mainstream not only within the trade union movement itself, but also in the wider labour movement. Members need a union that is both rational and responsive to its members needs.
There is an alternative, the 4themembers group of candidates, a network of independent-minded trade union activists who seek to put members first and rebuild the union so that it is able to engage with both the Government and the main opposition parties for the betterment of members’ interests.
4themembers priorities are to:
- Defend jobs, and terms and conditions of service.
- Fair, equality proofed pay and progression for all within a national pay framework. Opposition to market facing (regional, local) pay.
- Defend pensions.
- Oppose privatisation and mutualisation.
- Fair and adequate staffing, trained and supported to deliver services.
- Ensure members are at the centre of the union’s democratic design making.
- Developing our union’s structures to empower members, activists and groups to represent and campaign in our members interests.
- A strong union that is financially sound.
A full list of 4themembers candidates can be found here
