Welcome to the PCS DWP Leicestershire Branch weekly email, the first following the 2021 Annual General Meeting, and my first as your new branch secretary. Chris Willars is a hard act to follow, but I’ll do my best, and hopefully continue to make a difference. For those who don’t know me (and for some of those who do), I have been a PCS member since I joined the DHSS in 1987. I have been a union representative almost ever since, including a period as the branch secretary for Leicester Pensions branch before it merged with the Work Services branch. It may come as a disappointment to readers of Chris’s weekly emails to learn that I know nothing at all about cricket (also Rugby and Formula 1 before you ask). I am a Leicester City fan, where I have a season ticket, so I may mention football occasionally, but not today. I’m also a musician, I play guitar in a couple of local covers bands. I occasionally give in to new guitar syndrome, much to my wife’s exasperation.
I’m looking forward to being your branch secretary and working with our team of representatives to support our members and develop our newer reps.
Annual General Meeting
Our first ‘virtual’ AGM took place on 23 February on Teams. It was well attended and ran encouragingly smoothly. Our DWP Group President, Martin Cavanagh, gave an excellent speech and took questions from the virtual floor. The meeting confirmed your new Branch Executive Committee (see below) and agreed five motions for DWP conference, including the recommendation of Distinguished Life Memberships for Martin Foreman and Dave Richards.
Coronavirus
A large percentage of our members are now working at home, with minimal numbers working in the offices. Jobcentres are providing a service for vulnerable people who can only engage with us in person, and they should be staffed on a voluntary basis. Members who should be at home shielding should be working at home or on Special Leave With Pay if they are not able to work due to the unavailability of equipment. If you have any queries about the working at home policies or any other Coronavirus work-related questions please contact us.
Pay
PCS is supporting the TUC pre-Budget lobby at 7.30pm on Tuesday 2 March. We need members and reps to register for the event. The details are on the website here: https://www.pcs.org.uk/news/
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.
Green Tips
Donna Pellegrini, our branch Green Rep, highlights some green issues below.
WHY THE GREEN NEW DEAL MUST BE FEMINIST! Free webinar 11th March; 12.30-1.30pm
Hosted by the Women’s Environment Network, this will be an opportunity to meet the authors of the UK Feminist Green New Deal policy paper, ask questions, share your experiences and help shape the Feminist Green New Deal Manifesto that will be launched at COP26 Glasgow Climate Talks in November. See here for further details.
Plant trees
No, you don't plant anything; Ecosia does. It's a search engine that plants trees with the money it makes from ads. Every time you click on an ad in your search results, you're helping to reforest the Earth. I like doing this in between streaming videos of people planting trees.
Be aware, if you block adverts, you won't be helping the planet. You might prefer to use Google – it's reportedly buying enough green power to match all its electricity needs.
You can also support the Friends of the Earths’ call for more tree cover. https://act.friendsoftheearth.
Join PCS and Encourage Others To Join
There are many good reasons to join a union. PCS seeks to negotiate the best deals for its members across the whole Civil Service and in the individual departments. Locally, union reps engage with local management about collective issues, and support individual members with personal cases and guide them through the procedures. The strength of the union comes from its membership; the more members, the stronger the union, the louder our voice. Please encourage everyone you know, everyone you work with, to join their union.
PCS Branch Reps
Following the AGM, here are your branch representatives:
Branch Chair: Simon Williams
Branch Secretary: Tom Fall
Branch Vice Chair (CMG): Alan Groves
Branch Vice Chair (WSD): vacancy unfilled, to be discussed at next Branch Executive Committee meeting
Branch Assistant Secretary (CMG): Bash Chilwan
Branch Assistant Secretary (WSD): Jennifer Fernandes
Branch Organiser: Ashraf Haji
Branch Treasurer: Noel Corry
CMG Site Reps: Halima Ali, Darren Baxter, Bash Chilwan, Noel Corry, Tom Fall, Alan Groves, Ashraf Haji, Ismail Matwadia, Donna Pellegrini, Idris Umarji
WSD Site Reps: Sarah Buxton-Adams, Jennifer Fernandes, Ravneet Maini, Wendy Payne, Hassan Rawat, Simon Williams
There are still places open on the Branch Executive Committee for reps in WSD, particularly in the workplaces outside of Leicester city. If you work at Coalville, Hinckley, Loughborough, Market Harborough or Melton Mowbray and are interested in becoming a site rep and would like to discuss it, please let me or Simon know.
PCS Membership Records
It’s important that the branch representatives can see which part of DWP you work in, including your workplace. We’ve recently seen a number of members move from CMG into WSD. If you’re one of those members, and you haven’t previously told me about your move, please let me know.
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 as 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 Case
It’s helpful and important that you follow the instructions in the branch blog http://pcsdwpleicestershire.
That’s all for now. Feedback is welcome. Stay safe, and please follow the Covid-19 advice about handwashing, social distancing and facial covering.
Tom Fall | Branch Secretary | PCS Trade Union | DWP Leicestershire Branch | Child Maintenance Group | 60 Wellington Street | Leicester | LE1 6DS | thomas.fall@dwp.gov.uk | LEICESTERSHIRE.PCSMAILBOX1@
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