Campaigning for the alternative
The ‘March for the alternative’ sent a powerful message to the government that many people oppose its cuts programme which attacks jobs, pensions, pay and our communities.
The fantastic event on 26 March galvanised the half a million people who came to London to fight the continuous threats to jobs, detrimental changes to pensions, the pay freeze, further privatisation and cuts in the civil service compensation scheme. The momentum needs to be increased in these unusual and uncertain times in defence of what our grandparents bequeathed us: the NHS, welfare state, free education and decent pensions and holidays.
The PCS national executive has agreed to establish a formal dispute and asked our annual delegate conference, which met in Brighton from 18-20 May, to endorse a national ballot of members in the civil service and non-departmental public bodies on a programme of industrial action.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka received rapturous applause for his speech to marchers gathered in Hyde Park on 26 March in which he said:
"Imagine what it would be like if we didn’t only march together, we took strike action together across all of our public services."
"And let’s be clear, whether you work in health, in schools, in the civil service, in private industry, wherever you work, we are stronger when we march together, so let’s ensure that we strike together to let the government know we won’t accept it."
The next steps
The union’s national executive agreed unanimously to move a vote for national industrial action over cuts to jobs, pensions and pay. The decision was subject to endorsement of the union’s annual conference as an emergency motion when it opened in Brighton on 18 May. It was agreed the ballot would commence the following week with the first strike possible in June 2011.
The specific aims of the ballot are:
- No detrimental changes to pensions and the civil service compensation scheme
- Application and strengthening of the national protocols on avoiding compulsory redundancy
- An end to the pay freeze and a fair pay rise for all PCS members.
