The Latest Bulletin for Members in DWP and CMEC.

The following has been provided by DWP Group:

Hundreds of Leeds refuse workers won an important victory this week – returning to work having accepted a significantly improved offer after 11 weeks of strike action. These low paid workers were initially threatened with significant pay cuts and the wholesale privatisation of their work without the option of an “in-house” bid. The settlement not only fought off the worst of the threatened pay cuts but also the threat of privatisation. These workers were sustained by significant support from the public and unions including PCS. Their success is significant for all public sector workers.

A Christmas Carol
Are you feeling Christmassy yet? No? Neither are Jobcentre Plus management. Clearly influenced by the release of Disney’s “A Christmas Carol” managers have written to some staff in Jobcentre Plus to say that this year staff in Jobcentre Plus will not receive the usual Christmas flexi credit of half a day for Christmas shopping or team lunches. Staff can be in no doubt that this is not a punishment because everyone right up to the Prime Minister has thanked JCP staff for their incredible hard work during the recession. No, this is not a punishment, it is evidence that JCP management are taking staff’s hard work and commitment for granted on a grand scale and it is a huge mistake on their part.

Dire visions of Christmas past
In Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” Scrooge was warned to change his greedy ways. JCP management have taken staff for granted like this before and they have always come to regret it.DWP management not only benefit from staff goodwill at Christmas, our service to the public depends on staff goodwill all the year round.

Season of goodwill to all
All year we have received hollow “thanks” for our hard work. In the last couple of weeks management have trumpeted the success of the Department in gaining a whole host of awards for excellent service. Undoubtedly members in the whole of DWP and CMEC have played their part in supporting this country through the recession. Most DWP and CMEC staff will receive some small acknowledgment in the form of a Christmas flexi credit as usual. Some JCP staff will not. This is wrong. PCS are calling on management today to put it right.

Stop compulsory transfers
PCS representatives from all of the sites where members have recently been told that they are to be compulsorily transferred to CCD met together this week with the DWP Group Executive Committee to plan the next steps of their campaign.They were updated on how negotiations are going on preventing their compulsory transfer and keeping processing work at their sites.

Management must listen
The GEC are absolutely clear that negotiations with management can achieve the concessions that members and the public need – if management start listening to their own staff and their own managers in the BDC’s. PCS will be pressing home these points when they meet with the new JCP CEO next week.Reps at the meeting were also clear that members on the 15 sites are determined to do whatever it takes to get management to do the right thing for staff and customers.

Young Members Forum 2010

In February 2010 PCS will hold the fifth annual meeting of the young members' forum in the form of a conference. We are inviting PCS members aged 27 and under to attend.

Date: 5th Feb - 7th Feb (arrival Friday night only)
Venue: Britannia Hotel, Birmingham

Objectives
- Report on the progress and actions taken to promote the young members' charter.
- Develop plans for building and raising the profile of the network.
- Setting the 2010 agenda for organising, bargaining and campaigning.
- Announcement of candidates standing for national Chair, Vice Chair and Equalities Officer to the newly elected national young members committee.

Topics covered
- Organising and young members.
- Young members and the industrial agenda.
- Young members breaking into union structures.
- Building links with other organisations, social justice and the wider community - call centre campaign, youth networks in other trade unions, international solidarity campaigns.

Selection Process
There are a limited number of places for members to attend this conference and we have tried to develop a process that allows for fair representation of young members from the regional networks and branch activists. Therefore there are two ways you can be nominated to attend this conference.

1) Be nominated by your regional network as one of the regional delegates confirmed by the regional committee (please forward a copy of your application to the regional office)

2) Be nominated by your Branch to attend on their behalf.

Please complete the attached application form and return your nomination to the full time regional organiser in your region or to your branch for nomination to the national young members coordinating committee.

Conference arrangements
Accommodation for the event will be booked by PCS centrally so delegates do not need to arrange this but please indicate which days/nights you will be attending. A creche facility will be provided so again, please indicate on the form if you wish to use this.

To have your travel arrangements pre booked please tick the box on the registration form and a form will be sent to you to complete and send back. All food will be provided for the conference so if you have any special dietary requirements please specify them on the registration form attached.

If you have any questions please contact Tracy Edwards in the Organising & Learning Department on 020 7801 2691 or email.

More information will be sent to you regarding the agenda and travel and accommodation arrangements once you have been confirmed to attend.

Please RSVP by the 11th of December to Tracy Edwards, 160 Falcon Rd, London, SW11 2LN or email.

Shared Services Members’ Brief

The following has been supplied by DWP Group.

DCSF Launch
On 2 November DWP Shared Services took over work from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). This reflects moves across the civil service to brigade shared services operations. The DWP is recognised as a major player in this field and already undertakes work for the Cabinet Office. Other smaller departments are also seeking to transfer shared services operations to DWP. Although this move strengthens the position of DWP as a major provider of shared services across Whitehall, it means extra work with a negligible increase in staffing. PCS will monitor developments closely and would welcome feedback from branches on the impact of this change.

Customer Payments changes
Management have notified SSTUS of some major organisation changes affecting Customer Payments operations.

They plan to combine the recall and enquiry telephony work that is currently undertaken by the Bank Liaison Section (BLS) into the Customer Payment Contact Centre (CPC) activity at Runcorn.

To proceed, they intend to integrate the people and skills from the Bank Liaison Section with the Contact Centre.

Management will shortly be issuing information about a preference exercise to be undertaken within BLS to identify 10 FTE AOs and 1 EO who will move with the BLS telephony work into the Contact centre at Runcorn. In essence this will mean that instead of working in BLS, they will work in CPC, all of which is within Customer Payments. The BLS staff working from Runcorn who do not move with the telephony work will continue with backroom processing activities, as now.

PCS would welcome any feedback on this development.

Project ICE
Management informed the Departmental Trade Union Side recently of the above Project that is a HR Change project to establish a Complex Case Advisory Services Team.

This discrete team will sit in the Corporate Centre as part of the Employee Policy Centre of Expertise, i.e. not within Shared Services. It is intended to handle complex HR policy queries from DWP clients and manage complex casework that was previously carried out by HR Business Partners. The team will be located in four regional hubs – Sheffield, London, Newcastle and a site in the Northwest.

PCS are not convinced that this represents any improvement on current structures that could not be addressed by increased staffing and better training.

The project also indicated that it would mean a reduction in staffing in Level 2b in Sheffield as the new team takes over DWP casework. Management could not specify numbers. PCS oppose this reduction in an already overworked unit.

Overall PCS believes this project is ill thought out and merely adds another layer of bureaucracy rather than improving the service.

Feedback on any of the above issues should be directed initially through your branch to Dave Wilkinson or Paul Barton Group Assistant Secretary at Group Office in Leeds.

Civil Service Pension Delivery.
Members will have seen the recent announcement that DWP Shared Services is to take complete operational control of civil service pensions. A national review has been underway for some time and the recommendations were to establish control in one government department. DWP will take over all existing APAC sites. PCS will be meeting management next month to discuss the implications and also the role of the new Chief Operating Officer.

North West Regional Equality Officer’s Report

Report supplied by the Regional Equality Officer.

The Regional Equality Committee (REC) is due to meet on 1st December 2009.

Equality Monitoring Data.
As reported to the October Regional Committee (RC) within NW Jobcentre Plus reps have been actively pursuing the employer’s failure to provide TU side with equality monitoring data in relation to vacancy filling exercises.

We have explained that it is unacceptable for managers in the North West to state that they do not collate and hold such data. We have stated that they have a legal duty to obtain and analyse data in order to implement any changes to their procedures where discriminatory trends are identified. We also explained that there is a requirement to (equality) monitor all vacancy-filling exercises (not just recruitment and promotion) including preference exercises, selection exercises, transfers and use of temporary promotion).

JCP Regional Management was very reluctant to discuss these issues in an open employee relations forum and claimed not to understand the key issues. They offered to hold a separate meeting to discuss but have since advised that they need to check the policy and undertake research.

Clearly we will now have to give them the opportunity to respond prior to deciding on how to progress this fundamental equality matter.

Recommend: It would be helpful for other business unit trade union sides to advise the RC on what form of equality data is being shared with them.

Branch Equality Officer (BEO) Training.
I have had a meeting with the Equality Reps Project Officer and he advises that the PCS-specific BEO training course is due to be rolled out early in 2010. The intention is for this training to be modular-based in order that it can be adapted to an individual’s level of experience. To note.

National meeting of Regional Equality Reps.
The last meeting took place on 1st October and our Region was the only Region/nation to provide a written report on activities, and our report was well received. Main issues:

Equality reps.
The Group are in correspondence with DWP for more flexibility in reps training
EHRC report on Jobcentre Plus. The report found that JCP are failing to comply with their statutory duties. JCP to produce an action plan.

Equality Data.
The DWP has gathered and analysed equality monitoring data in the area of disciplinary action. The analysis demonstrates that ethnic minority staff are more than twice as likely to receive disciplinary action than white staff. Disabled staff are almost twice as likely to be dismissed as non-disabled staff. Ethnic minority staff are twice as likely to be dismissed as white staff.

Regional Equality Newsletter.
A holding newsletter was issued for the last quarter. The audience for the newsletter is reps rather than members.

PCS General Secretary Elections 2009

PCS has been transformed under Mark Serwotka’s leadership. It is a strong, united union, capable of defending members’ interests – a union to be proud of.

When staffing was being cut in DWP, the nationally agreed cabinet office protocols prevented a single compulsory redundancy. When the recession began, Mark helped to keep DWP in the headlines, strengthening our arguments for the additional staffing we needed.

Mark has been a strong and articulate advocate for members within the DWP, speaking at meetings with Ministers and supporting the Group Executive Committee in campaigns and negotiations. He has also spoken at hundreds of meetings with members across the country, enthusing them to take action and giving them confidence that together we can win with the support of colleagues and the wider union.

He has also spoken up for DWP members through the press and media, countering the negative perception of civil servants and answering the attacks of politicians. Mark has given clear leadership in a number of campaigns; over pay; pensions; job security and now over the compensation scheme. Mark is also the recognisable, public face of our union and has led from the front our defence of public services.

Mark was an AO in a benefits office for over twenty years. A low paid worker and a PCS rep and he has never forgotten that. Mark’s support for PCS members could not be bettered and his re-election is vital if we are to secure the gains we need to improve our working lives.

We need leaders with commitment, credibility, experience and a track record of delivery. Mark has demonstrated he has the interests of DWP members at heart and can deliver agreements which protect our jobs, conditions and communities.

Hewlett Packard Ballot

Background
Members may have seen leaflets from the PCS EDS Fylde and Preston Branch concerning a ballot in HP (formerly EDS). EDS was one of the companies who were given IT contracts from the DWP during the 1990’s, there used to be a Information Technology Services Agency (ITSA) in the DSS.

Members in the DWP will be fully aware of the issues of pay cuts and job cuts.

The Dispute in HP
Our sister Branch in EDS has provided the following information about the background of the issues and also why they were leafleting the Norcross site:

“The union’s National Disputes Committee has approved an official industrial action ballot of members in the EDS Branch and the two North East DWP account branches. The ballot covers all members employed by HP, whether or not they currently work on the DWP account.

Prior to confirming the approval, a final approach was made to HP’s Employee Relations Manager to ascertain whether any movement from the company was forthcoming on the two areas of dispute – compulsory redundancies and the across-the-board pay freeze. The response was negative.

The Managing Director, HP UK & Ireland, reported on the completion of the HP-EDS Integration Workforce Management Programme, in which 3242 jobs have been shed in the UK. The figures he gives confirm that 25% of this total, 810 job cuts were made by compulsory redundancy. He goes on to announce a further Workforce Management Programme to be implemented in the first half of 2010, with an estimated 1105 further job cuts, of which 796 are expected to be in HP Enterprise Services (ex-EDS).

The Managing Director, HP UK & Ireland refers to these proposals having followed a European Workers Council meeting in May and a meeting with Employee Representatives on 15th September. He further refers to another meeting with Employee Representatives on 3rd November. At the latter meeting, the company’s representatives declined to give an assurance that there will be no compulsory redundancies.

Some members in HP have commented that the Managing Director, HP UK & Ireland communication appears to be implying that the Works Council and the Employee Representatives (i.e. the union representatives) are somehow party to the decision to cut more jobs. This is not the case. PCS have consistently asserted, at these WFM meetings, that redundancies are neither necessary nor genuine, but are – together with the pay freeze - simply headcount reductions designed to transfer workload to fewer shoulders and to boost HP profits, share values, dividends and senior management bonuses at the expense of its employees.

Kelly Services, an employment agency which holds a number of contracts with HP including supplying operations staff at the SDC, Norcross, was seeking to cut its workers’ pay. We advised of the contractual position relating to pay cuts – which is no different for agency workers - and we advised Kelly’s workers to ‘Just say No’, as HP permanent staff, in overwhelming numbers, had already successfully done so.

We have now learned that Kelly’s have imposed the 2.5% cut.

The letter sent by Kelly’s management to the workers makes it clear that the cuts have been very much driven by HP:

“The global economy and every major corporation within it are under sustained pressure to reduce costs with the ultimate goal of securing the long term future of its workforce. EDS (an HP company) are not exempt from this,
Revenue is in decline and EDS (an HP company) are reducing cost expenditure wherever possible. Kelly Services have been impacted by this reduction and accordingly we need to reduce labour costs.

As a strategic partner, Kelly Services needs to support this initiative and reinforce the message that this initiative is key in order to secure the long term future for all our workers on secondment at EDS”.

So long as workers register a protest when pay cuts are imposed, these can be legally overturned. Hence, PCS has organised to help Kelly’s workers, who are joining the union, to lodge group grievances.

Updates will follow in future issues, but what has happened to Kelly’s colleagues is indicative of what we are up against with HP attitudes on cutting and freezing pay to boost their profits. A strong union, for both agency workers and permanent workers is absolutely vital.”

Hopefully members in the Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch will now have a flavour of what the campaign in HP is about.

If you require any further details then please contact the Branch Office.

Hewlett Packard staff in strike vote

For PCS members locally, HP, formerly EDS are balloting on industrial action. Some of the staff involved may well be working alongside you, especially for those of you working in Blocks 3 and 8 at Norcross.

The following is direct from the PCS HQ website:

Over 1,000 PCS members working on government IT contracts for EDS/Hewlett Packard (HP) began a strike ballot today in a dispute over job losses and pay.

There has been growing anger amongst staff since HP took over EDS in August 2008 with 3,400 staff already axed in addition to a pay freeze and voluntary pay cuts. Hardworking staff, who are shouldering greater workloads and contributing significantly to HP’s revenue and profits, now face a further insecurity with further 1,000 job losses planned for the first half of next year.
The ballot which runs until 30 November is asking members to vote on action short of strike and strike action which could take the form of a series of one or two day strikes.

Those being balloted work mainly on IT contracts for the Department for Work and Pensions in locations around the UK including: Newcastle, Washington, Preston and the Fylde Coast.

Commenting, Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: "There has been growing anger amongst staff who are facing yet more uncertainty about their future. Staff have been contributing significantly to HP’s revenue, whilst shouldering greater workloads and helping to generate good profit levels.

Yet their reward is more job cuts, imposed pay freezes and pleas from the company to take a voluntary pay cut. We will be urging members to deliver a strong yes vote and tell management that enough is enough."

PCS DWP Group Telephony Campaign

To all members of the PCS Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch at Warbreck in Helpline and on Turrets or in 201, 202 and 204 at Norcross.

Members may have seen details in the PCS DWP Group circulars about the campaign in Job Centre Plus regarding the extension of Call Centres in the DWP.

The PCS DWP Group Executive Committee have decided that a line in the sand has to be drawn in terms of the continuing pressures from the employer to eat into members conditions of service. Your Branch Executive Committee unanimously agreed that, provided the campaigns aims were beneficial to all members who work in a Telephony environment in the DWP then all members working in a telephony environment should be included in the Campaign. We have requested assurances that the campaign’s aims and demands will include:

1. Adoption of the PCS Call Centre Charter in all Call Centres in the DWP, including full access to FWH, an end to the Genesys system with its “nth” degree scheduling of call centre workers’ hours on the phones, acceptance that call centres workers are a part of the Department and should have the same rights to Special Leave/ Annual Leave etc and that any other improvements secured by PCS Departmentally apply to all workers equally, including call centre workers.
   
2. That there should be volunteers only to move into the JC Plus call centres
   If members want sight of the full PCS Call Centre Charter then they should contact Katya Lawder.

If you have any concerns, reservations or issues about the Campaign or want to discuss the issues then could the members who work on Turrets contact Emma Haslehurst by email or on Ext: 67400, the members in Helpline contact Katya Lawder by email of on Ext: 61186 and the Block 2 Norcross members please contact Duncan Griffiths via email or on Ext: 63484.

Right to Request Part-Time Working
Branches across the North West have received reports of members with caring responsibilities who have had requests for changes to their working patterns refused for ‘business reasons’. Your NW Regional Committee does not consider that an employer the size of DWP can reasonably refuse such requests.

PCS advises members who are considering making such requests, or who have had such requests refused to contact their local TU representative for advice.

Making DWP more representative in the North West
In our last newsletter we reported that anecdotal evidence suggested that DWP are failing to monitor the fairness or otherwise of their workforce management policies. They are failing to obtain equality data following recruitment, promotion and other vacancy-filling exercises, let alone analyse the data in order to make recommendations for improvements. The issue has now been raised with Jobcentre Plus regional managers who have confirmed that they do not use this data in the North West. This is unacceptable and PCS will continue to pursue this issue.

Regional Equality Networks
PCS has established a number of equality networks in the North West for members from under-represented groups within the union. Membership of the network groups is open to all qualifying members In the North West there are currently networks for black members, disabled members, LGBT members and young members.

These networks hold regular training events, usually on a quarterly basis. If you are interested in joining one of these networks please contact your local branch equality officer

Forthcoming Equality Events:

• North West Black Members Network: Liverpool, 12th November 2009

• PCS PROUD annual seminar: Glasgow, 20th November 2009

2000 LOCAL Job Cuts!

Two Thousand Job Cuts have taken place in the Fylde in the Department for Work and Pensions. No wonder it’s so difficult for people to find a job in the Fylde.

Background
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) have over the past five years been running a campaign to defend jobs and to highlight the economic impact of job cuts on the Fylde. The Government previously announced that there would be 104,000 job cuts in the Civil Service and the DWP was to take a large slice of the cuts.

We warned as to the detrimental impact of the job cuts on the economy of the Fylde area and also on future employment prospects.

We have met with local MPs and the Blackpool Council Leadership to warn of the dire consequences of the job cuts and tried to build a strategy to promote the interests of the Fylde rather than to accept that job cuts and economic misery are inevitable.

Exposed - Facts and Figures of the Job Cuts
The Rt. Hon Michael Jack MP (Fylde) has tabled a series of questions in the House of Commons as to the extent of the job cuts in the DWP (alone) in the Fylde over the past five years. The responses are grim reading as follows, broken down into Council Boroughs. The figures are in whole time equivalents Job Cuts between 2005 and 2009:

Blackpool = 245
Fylde = 1,057
Wyre = 860

TOTAL JOB CUTS ACROSS THE “FYLDE” = 2,162

NB. The above figures also include some people who have been privatised and also some transferred out of the DWP. However some of the privatised areas have also had job cuts not included in the above.

The figures are truly desperate. No wonder there are so many people unemployed and unable to find work on the Fylde. There is also the proposal to cut the Civil Service Compensation scheme which is an outrageous attempt to cut people’s jobs on the cheap at a time when many on the Fylde are worried about job security. We can clearly see that there has been a consensus formed by the political elite in the country that there will be a need for more job cuts to pay for the bail out of the bankers and the millionaire class, that means that many more jobs in the DWP on the Fylde and indeed across the Public Sector are at risk over the next few years.

Of course this does not bode well for the future of job opportunities in the area. This is obviously of great concern especially for the unemployed seeking a decent job in the Fylde area. Once the worst of the recession created by the bankers is over then there will attempts at a purge on Civil Service jobs. Cutting the compensation makes it cheaper to get rid of people.

Statements made by political leaders recently about more job cuts in the Public Sector to pay for the excesses of the bankers could make the jobs situation on the Fylde even worse. We would call upon all the interested parties in the Fylde to work together to get a grip on the jobs situation, before it becomes too late.

Conclusion
The Branch will continue to campaign to defend jobs in the area and also raise key issues such as the expectations of those left behind after the job cuts and the pressures to deliver increasing workloads with fewer and fewer staff.

If you have not yet joined PCS then please download and complete the membership form within the information pack here, or contact your site office for a form.

Blow the Whistle - White Ribbon Campaign

In 1991, a handful of men in Canada decided they had a responsibility to urge men to speak out against violence against women. They decided that wearing a white ribbon would be a symbol of men's opposition to men's violence against women.

After only six weeks preparation, as many as one hundred thousand men across Canada wore a white ribbon. Many others were drawn into discussion and debate on the issue of men's violence.

There are now White Ribbon Campaigns operating in many countries around the world. The first White Ribbon Day was launched in the UK by Womankind in 1998.

White Ribbon Campaign UK was launched in 2004 to work in conjunction with the work already done by Womankind Worldwide.The White Ribbon Campaign is the largest effort in the world of men working to end men's violence against women. It relies on volunteer support and financial contributions from individuals and organisations.

The White Ribbon football campaign is called “Blow the whistle on violence against women”. The aims of the campaign are to get male role models such as footballers and football managers to wear a white ribbon, to pledge that they will never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women.

The reason for this is that if a young man sees that his role model condemns violence against women, then he is likely to follow suit.

We also asked the football teams to produce an article in their match day programme, highlighting the issues of the campaign.

So far they have been supported by teams including Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton, Fulham, Tottenham, West Bromwich Albion, Sunderland and Stoke City.

For more information about the White Ribbon Campaign or Blow Your Whistle on Violence Against Women visit their website here. Or you can email them here.

Please join the campaign in trying to end male violence against women by supporting this event. If you, or someone you know is suffering from domestic violence please do not suffer in silence. Any member can contact the Warbreck Office in confidence on ext 61186/67400 or Norcross on ext 62882/63484.

For support, advice and information you can also contact the following organisations:

Fylde Coast Women's Aid - 01253 596699 – A local branch of Women’s Aid.

RESPECT - 0845 1228609 – For men who feel they are in danger of being violent or abusive.

Broken Rainbow – 08452 604460 – Support for LGBT people experiencing domestic violence.

MALE (Men’s Advice Line & Enquiries) – 0845 0646800 – If you are a male victim of domestic violence.

Women’s & Children Helpline – 0808 2000247 – Freephone 24 Hour National Domestic Violence Helpline (England) which is run in partnership between Women’s Aid & Refuge.

The Refuge website also shows you how to stop anyone knowing that you have been on their/a website in order to protect you.