by Tim Lezard@Union-News.co.uk
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka has responded to claims in The Times that he had not attended any of the negotiating meetings between Francis Maude and the other union leaders.
The Cabinet Office minister, who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government and last month warned he would re-write laws to make it harder for unions to go on strike, accused Mark Serwotka of refusing to attend the meetings over public sector pensions, a claim flatly denied by the union.
In a letter to the newspaper, Mark Serwotka wrote:
Sir, Your leading article (Dec 21) suggests I have refused to attend the negotiations over public sector pensions.
PCS has attended every single meeting since they started.
As part of the TUC negotiating team, I have attended every meeting centrally with Francis Maude and Danny Alexander.
My deputy Hugh Lanning has attended all meetings with their officials. However, they have only been able to discuss ways of implementing the government’s proposals, when what we need are proper negotiations on the issues of substance: imposing a tax on millions of public servants by increasing pensions contributions, raising the pension age even though the schemes are affordable and sustainable, and switching indexation from RPI to CPI.
Far from “walking away”, as Mr Alexander claimed in parliament, we want to negotiate on these things. But the government is attempting to exclude us from future discussions.
PCS has refused to sign the heads of agreement, saying nothing has changed since before the strike on November 30th, with workers still expected to work longer, pay more and receive less.
UNISON and GMB have signed up to the agreement, promising further talks in the New Year, while EIS, NUSUWT, NUT, UCU and Unite have refused, saying they will consult their members first.
Unions’ executives will consider the government’s offer early in the New Year before reporting back to the TUC’s Public Sector Liaison Group on January 12th.
Friday 23 December 2011
Wednesday 21 December 2011
Serwotka: “We will not be bullied by the government”
by Tim Lezard@union-news.co.uk
The PCS has said the government’s “unacceptable bullying” will not deter the union’s members from standing up for what is right.
During his statement to Parliament yesterday, chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander singled out PCS, accusing the union of “walking away from talks” – a claim strongly denied by the union which says they were told they no longer invited to negotiations.
In a letter to Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude yesterday, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka wrote: “As the union representing the overwhelming majority of civil servants we want to reach an agreement, but we could not accept that the government’s proposals are an unalterable framework within which any discussions have to take place. PCS would expect to be involved in any further discussions which take place in relation to the government’s proposals.”
The union has reiterated its commitment to negotiating but ministers have refused to negotiate on the three core issues of forcing public servants to pay hundreds of pounds more each year in pensions contributions, work for up to eight years longer and receive much less in retirement – in many cases, tens of thousands of pounds.
Of all the proposed changes, these will have the biggest impact on the pensions of millions of public servants. Not a single penny of the extra contributions will go to make pensions any more affordable – because this is not required – the money will go to the Treasury to pay off the budget deficit caused by the recession and bailing out the banks.
While talks with Cabinet Office officials have been held in recent weeks on aspects of the civil service scheme, there have been no central negotiations with ministers on these key issues since 2 November.
At a meeting of the TUC’s public sector liaison group on Monday, Mark Serwotka reported the union’s view that nothing had changed since the public sector strike on 30 November, that the offer on the table in the civil service was not good enough, and that further industrial action will be necessary in the new year if the government’s continues to refuse to negotiate on the main issues.
He said: “It is extraordinary how PCS members have been treated by this government, simply for saying they will not accept being made to pay more and work longer for tens of thousands of pounds less in their retirement.
“This kind of unacceptable bullying will not deter union members from standing up for what is right, and opposing the government’s attempts to make them pay the price for a recession they did not cause. We remain committed to negotiating with ministers, but they continue to refuse even though we believe they have a legal obligation to do so.”
The PCS has said the government’s “unacceptable bullying” will not deter the union’s members from standing up for what is right.
During his statement to Parliament yesterday, chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander singled out PCS, accusing the union of “walking away from talks” – a claim strongly denied by the union which says they were told they no longer invited to negotiations.
In a letter to Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude yesterday, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka wrote: “As the union representing the overwhelming majority of civil servants we want to reach an agreement, but we could not accept that the government’s proposals are an unalterable framework within which any discussions have to take place. PCS would expect to be involved in any further discussions which take place in relation to the government’s proposals.”
The union has reiterated its commitment to negotiating but ministers have refused to negotiate on the three core issues of forcing public servants to pay hundreds of pounds more each year in pensions contributions, work for up to eight years longer and receive much less in retirement – in many cases, tens of thousands of pounds.
Of all the proposed changes, these will have the biggest impact on the pensions of millions of public servants. Not a single penny of the extra contributions will go to make pensions any more affordable – because this is not required – the money will go to the Treasury to pay off the budget deficit caused by the recession and bailing out the banks.
While talks with Cabinet Office officials have been held in recent weeks on aspects of the civil service scheme, there have been no central negotiations with ministers on these key issues since 2 November.
At a meeting of the TUC’s public sector liaison group on Monday, Mark Serwotka reported the union’s view that nothing had changed since the public sector strike on 30 November, that the offer on the table in the civil service was not good enough, and that further industrial action will be necessary in the new year if the government’s continues to refuse to negotiate on the main issues.
He said: “It is extraordinary how PCS members have been treated by this government, simply for saying they will not accept being made to pay more and work longer for tens of thousands of pounds less in their retirement.
“This kind of unacceptable bullying will not deter union members from standing up for what is right, and opposing the government’s attempts to make them pay the price for a recession they did not cause. We remain committed to negotiating with ministers, but they continue to refuse even though we believe they have a legal obligation to do so.”
Tuesday 20 December 2011
Why PCS had to reject the pension offer
PCS have rejected the government's latest offer on pensions. Why? Because it was no different to what was on offer before November 30th, when millions (including thousands of PCS members) took action. The deal would still see you working longer, paying more and receiving less. In short, the government still want to steal money from your pocket when your pension is a contractual agreement between your employer and you.
The fact that some union leaders seem to fail to understand this is a gross dereliction of their duty to their members, many of whom will not share the view that the deals on the table are improvements and may express this quite angrily. The fact remains, however, that our General Secretary, Mark Serwotka, and our National Executive Committee have not succumbed to government blackmail and have called things by their proper name: this is not a deal worth the paper it is written on and acceptance of such a deal would be a complete betrayal of the sacrifice members have already made.
In the coming days, the government will attempt to appeal over the heads of PCS to you to accept their terms. A government that just last week arbitrarily decided to raise your pension contributions from April next year; showing what they really think about a negotiated settlement. You need to remain strong and tell the government:
I'm not willing to work longer, pay more and receive less.
I'm not willing for the government to steal money from my pocket when I have a contractual agreement.
I support my union's rejection of the proposed deal offered to PCS placed under duress.
The fact that some union leaders seem to fail to understand this is a gross dereliction of their duty to their members, many of whom will not share the view that the deals on the table are improvements and may express this quite angrily. The fact remains, however, that our General Secretary, Mark Serwotka, and our National Executive Committee have not succumbed to government blackmail and have called things by their proper name: this is not a deal worth the paper it is written on and acceptance of such a deal would be a complete betrayal of the sacrifice members have already made.
In the coming days, the government will attempt to appeal over the heads of PCS to you to accept their terms. A government that just last week arbitrarily decided to raise your pension contributions from April next year; showing what they really think about a negotiated settlement. You need to remain strong and tell the government:
I'm not willing to work longer, pay more and receive less.
I'm not willing for the government to steal money from my pocket when I have a contractual agreement.
I support my union's rejection of the proposed deal offered to PCS placed under duress.
Saturday 17 December 2011
Ministerial hypocrisy will have consequences
What hypocrites our employers are. Iain Duncan-Smith sends his Christmas greetings telling us how important we have been to the Tories welfare reform plans and then slimy Maude threatens to exclude us from future pension talks and suggests the plans we went out on strike about on N30 will be imposed. We need to stand firm against the school yard bullies and their gang. The Tories depend on their civil servants to operate, but their treatment is more likely to mean we carry out their policies reluctantly holding our noses rather than how it should be; impartially and professionally.
Friday 2 December 2011
Mark Serwotka calls Francis Maude a liar
As advised by the DWP Intranet, I went to the Cabinet Office Pensions Calculator and put in my details.
What I got back was the message that since I was in within 10 years of retirement, it would not do any calculation for me.
Nothing about paying more in contributions and nothing about getting less through CPI, rather than RPI, indexation.
I am left to conclude that Francis Maude and his government are at best disingenuous, one meaning of which is untruthful. Mark Serwotka called Francis Maude a liar on last Wednesday night's BBC Newsnight and from my experience today I cannot disagree with our General Secretary.
What I got back was the message that since I was in within 10 years of retirement, it would not do any calculation for me.
Nothing about paying more in contributions and nothing about getting less through CPI, rather than RPI, indexation.
I am left to conclude that Francis Maude and his government are at best disingenuous, one meaning of which is untruthful. Mark Serwotka called Francis Maude a liar on last Wednesday night's BBC Newsnight and from my experience today I cannot disagree with our General Secretary.
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