Civil service

A MEETING of PCS civil service workers’ union reps in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) last week voted in favour of a deal in our pay dispute. This will now be put to the membership, with the union recommending acceptance. The pay offer is over 4 percent for each year of the deal and is weighted towards the lowest paid. But there are still some major problems and PCS members should reject the deal. The DWP will still have more people on poverty pay than many departments. The main problem is that there will still be an appraisal system based on quotas.

Any gains are down to the fact that we took six days of the best supported strike action ever in the civil service last year. Some 17,000 people joined the PCS in the DWP. Regardless of the outcome of the ballot the PCS is in a stronger position than a year ago. More intensive strike action can win more—which must be applied to our fight over pensions and job cuts.