Political Representation Ballot

The recommendation from the NEC is that you vote Yes, Yes in the ballot. We need to fight industrially and politically.

Three Day Staffing Strike in Merseyside Jobcentres

There will be a three-day strike across Merseyside jobcentres starting on Wednesday which is the result of a long-term staffing dispute. The staff believe the jobcentres are understaffed as a result of many of their colleagues being transferred to local contact centres, particularly against a backdrop of the north west of England being particularly badly affected by the downturn. Members have previously held a series of three-hour stoppages as they seek an acceptable resolution. PCS wants to sit down with DWP Merseyside District and review staffing on a without prejudice basis. The union also wants the staff who have been compulsorily transferred to contact centres to be given the option to return to the Work Services Directorate. Talks continue and PCS will actively seek any realistic opportunity to reach a settlement but members have made it clear they will pursue their reasonable objectives through industrial action. PCS national officer Charles Law said: "The jobcentres are severely understaffed and the main aim of the action is to increase staffing levels to an acceptable level. The three-day action is a significant escalation, especially coming on the back of the extra bank holiday and shows members' determination and resolution. "We still hope we can resolve the issue." You can support the action by: • Attending picket lines. Picketing is an important show of strength and is a lawful part of strike action. • Encouraging your colleagues to join the strike and ask any non-members to join the union and participate in the strike. Solidarity messages can be sent through the DWP group office: leeds@pcs.org.uk and PCS north west regional office.

We're on Twitter!

You can now follow us @pcsdwpleicester. We will provide instant updates by Tweets.

The campaign goes on and building for action

The campaign against the great pensions robbery goes on. We are involved in a marathon and not a sprint and with political and industrial developments throughout Europe, we have a great chance to defeat a weak ConDem government. The policy adopted by our conference last week is: 1. To call on the TUC to demand that the Government enter into central negotiations on the core issues of increased contributions, the switch to CPI and the link to the state pension age. 2. To argue for further national industrial action on public sector pensions at the end of June with as many unions as possible and to take final decisions once the position of other unions becomes clear. 3. To build the joint union campaign '68 is too late'. 4. To organise a parliamentary campaign to block the Public Sector Pensions Bill and call on the opposition parties to support the campaign. 5. To continue to campaign jointly with as many unions as possible for the alternative of investment for economic growth and tax justice. 6. To continue to press the TUC for closer coordination between unions on campaigning and industrial action. 7. To fully support and build PCS members participation in the TUC demonstration against austerity planned for the autumn. 8. To fully support PCS Groups and Branches campaigning and taking industrial action against cuts as an essential part of our programme of action. 9. To fully support community campaigns, protests and peaceful civil disobedience against the cuts organised by campaigning bodies such as UK Uncut, the Occupy movement and welfare campaigners, and support and work with anti-cuts groups campaigning against the inequality of cuts. The italic emphasis is mine as I believe these are the immediate points all members need to note. The NEC is putting the terms of the policy into immediate action and updates will be provided on this blog and on our Facebook group page - PCS DWP Leicestershire General Branch, as we cannot give this sort of update through Departmental IT; although the employer will no doubt use that method to try and rubbish the ongoing campaign. Please refer to the blog and the Facebook page regularly and please continue to support the campaign. No to working longer, no to paying more, no to receiving less.

Guillotine Section

The Guillotine Section only debated 2 motions. Both were carried.

A72 - This motion calls for closer working with Unite & to report back to conference next year on the operation of the joint agreement.

A120 - This motion calls for support for the Hillsborough Justice Campaign.

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A602

This motion calls for PCS to use the law to protect members from attack physical or otherwise from the far right.

This motion was carried.

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A145

This motion confirms our commitment to fighting climate change including 1M climate change jobs & green reps.

This motion was carried.

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