PCS Independent Left

Members need to be convinced that there is a plan and that they have the agency to win disputes. This is what members and car-park meetings should be centred on. But to have a plan means having a different leadership in DWP. To get that, vote Coalition for Change.

We also need to be bolder in how we agitate. Passivity is a key symptom of the disease in DWP. Organising rudderless, open-ended ‘fact-finding’ members meetings does not inspire and does not motivate. It’s not ‘organising’ and it’s not ‘leadership’.

With the real threat of a Reform Government in future. PCS must now build a bigger war chest not only to help our fight to reverse the fall in our real wages and to resist potentially substantial job losses, but also to help fund resistance to a possible Trump-inspired Reform government. The situation has been made more pressing by the Left Unity NEC’s decision to refund previous levy income. More funding is therefore needed for the Fighting Fund than ever before, and it cannot all come from existing sources.

Beyond pay, the LU leadership have been ineffective in stemming increasing workloads, the erosion of hybrid working, fighting unilateral rota changes by management, opposing office closures, tackling the rising threat of AI to civil service jobs and the deliberate attack by the government on London-based civil service jobs in particular through Places for Growth and the Plan for London. Can any PCS member say that the current union leadership has done them proud on these urgent issues? Therefore we need to change the NEC; so vote Coalition for Change.

Members wishing to discuss the failure of the statutory ballot for industrial action in DWP are welcome to attend an open public meeting; hosted by the Independent Left this Thursday 19th March, 18:30 on Zoom - joining details on our site: pcsindependentleft.com/2026/03/17/dwp…

IL’s View: Strengthen the Fighting Fund, Protect Members’ Money: pcsindependentleft.com/2026/03/16/ils…

If you missed PCS SEC conference last week, why not read our bulletin? pcsindependentleft.com/2026/03/16/pcs…

At the Annual Delegate Conference in May last year, your delegates passed motions to build a national campaign to fight the Government for fair pay and wider terms and conditions changes, with the aim of moving to an industrial action ballot in September. Since the election of a Left Unity-majority NEC and re-election of Martin Cavanagh as President, we have seen an abdication of leadership by our elected officials and the employed bureaucracy, seemingly singularly directed by Fran Heathcote, the General Secretary. The union effectively demobilised over the summer, did ineffectual choreographed engagement with Group and Branch representatives and concluded in September not to proceed to ballot members to advance the national campaign. Left Unity didn't want a campaign and they don't want now. To change that, you have to change the NEC. So vote CfC: pcsindependentleft.com/2026/03/05/pcs…

Resisting Cuts in the Civil Service: IL Open Meeting Last month, we heard from comrades in the Cabinet Office, Ofgem, the Department for Education, DESNZ and several others talk about how the budget cuts across the Civil Service were impacting individual employers – with headcount cuts, Voluntary Exit Schemes and the looming threat of redundancies almost everywhere. The effect of these cuts is not only to increase the workload on an already under-resourced and underpaid workforce, but to continue to drain away access to public sector jobs for working class people. We have decided to continue to discuss the cuts at our next meeting in this series – which will take place online via zoom Friday 13th March (12:30 – 13:30). Join the discussion this Friday (13/03/26), 12:30 – 13:30, via the zoom link below: us02web.zoom.us/j/85916233677?…

For 2026 we need a new President and NEC that will undertake the dual tasks of leadership; to listen and to lead. The President of PCS should not exercise dictatorial powers, no matter who they are or what faction they are from. Bev Laidlaw of the Independent Left is the Presidential candidate for the Coalition for Change (CfC). Bev has a longstanding record against the increasing role of the bureaucracy in the union and understands how to listen to members and reps to help to transform it alongside us all. Vote for Bev and the CfC slate.

"Last month, we heard about budget cuts across the Civil Service, with the looming threat of redundancies almost everywhere" This Friday, 12:30-13;30, join our second monthly open meeting to discuss the effect of cuts, and what we can do about them! pcsindependentleft.com/2026/03/05/il-…

Resisting Cuts in the Civil Service: IL Open Meeting: pcsindependentleft.com/2026/03/05/il-…

Reject the Home Office Pay Offer: No To Staff Cuts And Cuts to Terms and Conditions: pcsindependentleft.com/2026/03/03/rej…

DWP members need a Group Executive Committee which will listen and support members and branches to fight on the issues that are important to them. Be that hybrid working, redundancies, pay, staffing etc. Members and staff in general are more likely to be engaged with the union and join if we are fighting for their interests. We also need to be bolder in how we agitate. Passivity is a key symptom of the disease in DWP. Organising rudderless, open-ended ‘fact-finding’ members meetings does not inspire and does not motivate. It’s not ‘organising’ and it’s not ‘leadership’.

While it’s clear that pay is a significant issue for DWP members—and one we’ve been consistently vocal on—the Group’s insistence on ignoring other issues is a big problem. For example, hybrid workers—hundreds of whom turned up to member meetings to vote in favour of action against the increased office attendance mandate—were refused a ballot. Similarly, 69% of members in London HQ attended meetings and physically voted for action against redundancies, yet they were also denied a ballot. Instead, the GEC decided on their behalf that they would be balloted over pay instead. Imagine the confusion and frustration of these members. These are certainly not the actions of a member-led union. A pay campaign is desperately needed, but the demands must reflect the interests of all our members. The headline demand of this ballot was simply to reopen talks and reallocate the maximum to the lowest paid. While the GEC is right to prioritize the lowest-paid staff, the lack of a specific fixed sum or percentage demand for all grades is a mistake. Members in middle-to-senior grades could be forgiven for thinking the demands were either to reallocate money away from them or that any new money would bypass their grades entirely. It is bizarre to us that the dispute did not include concrete, tangible demands to agitate around. The upshot is that we have to have a new GEC, one that fights on ALL the issues of concern to members.

The DWP result is not an aberration, and as we’ve said, it cannot be soley laid at the feet of a poor 5-week campaign. Decades of top-down organising and bargaining has rendered the union inert in DWP. Since the right-wing were overthrown by mass membership mobilisation in the early 2000’s, reps and members have been told that as long as you vote for the right people to lead the group every year, you don’t need to concern yourselves with anything else. This model ensured that a culture of complacency set root in workplaces, members were slowly stripped of their agency and control moved from the workplace to the group. We need to change that. A first step towards this is to vote in Coalition for Change slates in DWP and the NEC.

DWP Failed Ballot: The disease and the cure: pcsindependentleft.com/2026/02/24/dwp…

DWP GEC 2026 Coalition Candidates: To see them go Here: pcsindependentleft.com/2026/02/21/dwp…

This is frightening stuff. Is PCS in a fit state to resist such an onslaught by a Reform government? No. We are a low density, low energy union. We have to radically change that, but with Left Unity in control that will never happen. Vote Coalition for Change in the NEC elections. Vote for a union which is fit to fight a Reform government.

If PCS is to thrive, it must be genuinely democratic drawing on members and reps’ knowledge and giving them the tools and resources to build successful industrial campaigns and deliver wins. A transformed rank and file led union will fight on jobs, terms and conditions and pay, overturning long-term decline by the LU leadership.