PCS votes to wait for others

Submitted by Matthew on 6 June, 2012 - 10:17

Delegates gathered in Brighton from 23-25 May for the annual conference of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS).

The main debate facing the conference was the future of the national pensions, jobs and pay dispute.

The debate focused on an emergency motion from the National Executive Committee (NEC) and an amended emergency motion from the Independent Left grouping. The NEC’s motion argued that there must be other unions prepared to take action on pensions before the PCS could act. The Independent Left motion argued that, while we should seek the widest possible unity in action across the public sector, this should not be a pre-condition for further action. Unfortunately the conference decisively backed the NEC. Another lively debate was also around an Independent Left motion which called on the leadership to establish a voluntary levy (i.e. strike fund) to fund selective action. On a card vote this motion was defeated by 142,000 to 50,000. This means over a quarter of delegates now support the Independent Left position. This is progress, albeit far too slowly.

The NEC's motion on closer working with Unite was guillotined but was picked up, and discussed and carried, in the guillotine section.

PCS faces a financial crisis because of the haemorrhaging of jobs and therefore members. The union faces a shortfall of £5 million a year if the current rate of loss of membership continues. I wonder if this is what is motivating the desire for closer working with Unite?

Whilst it doesn’t make obvious industrial sense for the two unions to merge, there are an increasing number of PCS members working in the private sector due to privatisation.

Any merger should be assessed on the concrete terms and crucially on how much control the rank-and-file has over both the merger process and the direction of the merged union.

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