To all PCS members in DWP Leicestershire,
Welcome to the latest edition of the PCS Leicestershire Branch weekly email. As a Leicester City fan, I’ve missed having a midweek match to watch so this week I started re-reading an autobiography by one of my favourite musicians. Someone once said writing about music is like dancing about architecture, but this book avoids the limited clichés used by music writers and instead concentrates on the author’s love of music, and the highs and lows of carving out a career in the music ‘industry’ while being true to his art. I don’t read enough, but I’m enjoying this. If you haven’t read something for a while I highly recommend it.
Government must work with unions to secure decent future for all – from the PCS website
The civil service must engage with the trade unions on the enormous challenges confronting our society to secure a decent future for everybody, is the call to the government from PCS.
We have made clear to the Cabinet Office that the range of issues confronting us, particularly in planning for a post-pandemic world, cannot be dealt with in isolation or through delegation. We think that proper central planning will be required if the UK is to recover and in prime minister Boris Johnson’s words “build back better”; and that proper collective bargaining is needed to facilitate this. Significant pay increases for UK government workers should play a major part in creating a path to economic recovery.
We have asserted our priorities:
· Job security and future ways of working
· Pay
· Terms and conditions
· The establishment of proper collective bargaining.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a pay freeze for 2021 to apply across the entire public sector. The Cabinet Office advised us that a 0% pay remit will contain no additional funding to support the lowest paid. The pay freeze is the focus of our campaign for pay justice for our members who have continued to deliver public services throughout the pandemic. We will also look to coordinate campaigning with other public sector unions fighting for fair pay.
We have held 2 fair pay days in January and February and in the run-up to the next one on 31 March, we will be highlighting the impact of pay inequality on disabled members, women and black workers.
During the week of 22 March, there is a series of meetings in regionally based ‘Locals’ aimed at members wishing to get involved in the pay campaign. The sessions will focus on building for pay rallies on 31 March.
Our national executive has agreed a national pay claim for 2021 and a number of sectoral pay claims that complement it, including in DWP, DfT, Home Office, MOJ and MOD.
On 8 March we wrote to Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove setting out our claim. In addition to progress on coherence of pay scales, we are seeking a cost of living rise of 10%. This would recognise our members’ vital contribution during the pandemic and provide a degree of restitution for the adverse effect on their living standards of years of pay restraint.
Our sectoral pay claims potentially open the door to greater coherence of pay scales within sectors and greater flexibility around business cases, which may produce funding for pay even when there is a pay freeze in place. Using this approach, PCS has scored a number of successes, including in the Home Office, the Department for Transport, the Department for Work and Pensions and in HM Revenue and Customs. We are in talks with the Cabinet Office on the developing pay remit guidance, due to be issued on 31 March.
DWP work coaches – PCS wants to hear from YOU
Work coaches at the DWP have always been key workers, helping jobseekers get back into work. But with coronavirus and the resulting economic insecurity, the essential role of the work coach has been brought further into the spotlight. The role is seen to be so pivotal to the UK’s recovery that the Department for Work and Pensions hired 4,500 work coaches last October, with a further 9,000 expected to be recruited by the end of this month.
Employment minister Mims Davies has said: “Work coaches are at the forefront of our national recovery and will be there for jobseekers striving to get back on their feet.”
And she’s right. But work coaches also need to look out for each other during this dangerous time.
Whether it’s social distancing in the workplace, adequate PPE, issues around taking sick leave, or stress and mental health, work coaches have a great number of challenges to confront at work. That’s why 2,400 work coaches have joined PCS, the civil service union, in the last year.
And we want to hear what matters to those work coaches, and also what matters to those work coaches that haven’t yet joined PCS. That’s why we’re launching a survey for all DWP work coaches. We want to hear what work coaches have to say, whether they are union members or not.
The survey only takes 6-8 minutes, and you don’t need to find lots of information to fill it in. We just want to hear what matters to you.
If you are a work coach, please complete our survey and share it with all of your work coach colleagues.
Green Tips
Your Green representative, Donna Pellegrini, presents this week’s advice.
It’s the job we all hate but has to be done, deep-cleaning the loo. When you stop using bleach to clean the toilet you find stains appearing, because all you’ve been doing is bleaching them out, but the limescale is still there. To get rid of the limescale, greenly, use citric acid. Make your own loo cleaner using 200g citric acid and 150ml water, emulsified with a squirt of eco-friendly washing-up liquid, put in a spray bottle and use that instead.
Membership on the increase
The branch now has 525 members, which is a pleasing increase on previous months. Homeworking severely restricts the opportunities for your reps to recruit new members to the union. I urge all of our members to encourage their non-member colleagues to join PCS.
Industrial Relations
Your reps regularly meet with both CMG and Jobcentre managers. We raise collective issues about safety, the application of DWP policies and procedures, changes, and much more. We look to the management to consult with us about their plans so we can represent members’ issues at the earliest possible point. We sometimes escalate issues when we can’t resolve them informally at the local level. We can’t always achieve everything we seek, but we continue to try.
Flexi Credit for Office Based Workers
The one hour per week flexi credit for office-based workers has been extended to April. Please make sure that you claim it if you are entitled. The expenses for homeworkers are still available as well. Please make sure that you claim what you are entitled to.
Support for Carers
The guidance has been updated. If you are a carer or a manager for someone who is please read the PCS circular here. During this coronavirus pandemic normal caring arrangements can change at very short notice so it is a good to be prepared.
BAME Risk Assessments
Initial numbers suggest that uptake was lower than expected. Both management and PCS encourage members to make use of these risk assessment. The process is here. If you are BAME or if you manage BAME staff please read the procedure. We strongly recommend that managers encourage their BAME staff to have this risk assessment.
Communications
If you know any PCS member in the branch who has not received this email, please ask them to contact me so I can add them to my distribution list.
The branch has a Facebook page. You cannot access it on official equipment. From your Facebook account, search for PCS DWP Leicestershire Branch and ask to be added. If you use a different name on Facebook (or for PCS), let me know when you ask.
Other News
The PCS homepage is here: https://www.pcs.org.uk/
The PCS DWP page is here: https://www.pcs.org.uk/
The branch blog is here: www.pcsdwpleicestershire.
Getting Help With A Personal CaseI
t’s helpful and important that you follow the instructions in the branch blog http://pcsdwpleicestershire.
Have a good week. Stay safe.
Tom Fall | Branch Secretary | PCS Trade Union | DWP Leicestershire Branch
