“We’re currently reballoting over 130,000 members to renew our mandate for strike action.”
Mark Serwotka, PCS General Secretary
By Mark Serwotka, PCS General Secretary
We’re six months into our national campaign of strike action and in the face of their scandalous treatment by the government, PCS members are more determined than ever. The latest outrage is a deeply insulting pay offer and PCS members last week showed just how angry they are when over one hundred thousand walked out in an all-out strike.
The all-member action taken last week is the third in as many months and has taken place alongside an escalation in highly effective targeted action. We stuck to our word when we told the government that unless they put money on the table and start negotiating with us to end the dispute, our action will intensify.
It’s simply astonishing that the government has refused to properly hold talks with us. PCS members have been treated far worse than other workforces in the public sector and it’s abundantly clear, and has been for a while, that this government holds its own workers in total contempt.
Despite this, we know the action our members are taking is effective and making a difference. I say this because the latest pay offer for the civil service we received recently – known as the Pay Remit Guidance – was set at between 4.5% and 5% for 2023/4. Although far from generous, this represents more for the civil service than we’ve had in any recent year, where the level has been set at a pathetic 2—3%.
This increase has only come about because of the industrial action campaign we’ve been waging. This is the first time in a long while that the government has recognised that PCS members should be offered the same as what other public sector workers have been offered. While we recognise that this latest offer represents progress – slow progress at that – it simply doesn’t touch the sides, when food inflation is at a staggering 19%.
The most striking part of this latest offer isn’t what’s in it but rather what is not. Unlike offers made to other public sector workers, our members have not been offered a one-off compensation payment or a backdated pay award to deal with the impact of the cost of living crisis in 2022.
It’s a bewildering and cruel proposition. It’s not as though PCS members were shielded from last the cost of living crisis last year. Quite the opposite, in fact. The 2-3% offered to our members last year was lower than anyone else in the public sector and civil servants have faced the biggest drop in living standards of anyone in the public sector. In a further kick in the teeth for our members, the offer made no mention of two other key elements of our dispute; pensions and redundancy.
It’s an appalling way for the government to treat its own workers and if they think our members will take it lightly, they’ve got another thing coming. We’re currently reballoting over 130,000 members to renew our mandate for strike action, which expires in May. Our original ballot result announced in November last year was an unprecedented verdict from members and our campaign since then has gone from strength to strength.
Our membership continues to grow at an impressive rate and it’s heading to the 200,000 level for the first time in nearly a decade. Last week’s national walkout was another incredible show of strength from members old and new. Those members won’t be going anywhere soon, and their union is more resolute than ever.
- Mark Serwotka is the General Secretary of the PCS Union, you can follow PCS on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to find out more about the strikes and support members taking action.
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