In
May PCS members in Garston Contact Centre in the DWP Liverpool Branch voted by
a majority of five and a half to one in favour of strike action to fight the
closure of the office.
95%
of PCS members at Garston Contact Centre supported two 1 day strikes on 16 May
and 23 June to fight the proposed closure of their office and the forced
transfer of all staff to either Bootle CC or Birkenhead CMG. On both strike
days around 30 pickets including ordinary members made lively picket lines.
PCS members at Garston
will now take 5 days strike action from
Monday 13 October to Friday 17
October.
Members Angry
Members
are angry because management say they need to close the office to save money
but DWP management have not taken into account the needs of the staff. Garston,
Bootle CC and Birkenhead CMG are not offices next door to one another. Most
members will face difficult journeys and even management accept that a good
number of staff are outside their contractual mobility for both offices.
Over
a 1,000 DWP jobs have been cut in Liverpool in the last decade and many members
at Garston are only there because they had to move there when DWP shut the
Liverpool Pensions and Liverpool Call Centre sites.
For
some staff closing Garston would mean their second and in some cases third
forced transfer due to cuts and office closures over the last ten years.
Concessions agreed
The
Group Executive Committee (GEC) has fully opposed the closure and supported
fully the members. So far negotiations supported by strike action have achieved
several welcome concessions such as:
- Excess fares extended from 3 to 5 years
- Alternative postings to Belle Vale office for all staff with mobility, health or caring problems.
- Agreement to recruit at Birkenhead CMG instead of compulsorily transferring Garston staff to Birkenhead CMG.
Despite
these concessions the great majority of staff will still be compulsorily
transferred to Bootle if Garston closes. Management have described this as a
lift and drop of the work but our members at Garston say - you can’t
lift and drop people and treat them like office furniture. GEC say this is
a closure too far.
Reasonable union
proposals rejected
PCS
only takes industrial action as a last resort. After a series of further talks
the GEC this week escalated negotiations to a meeting with the Network Services
Director Myrtle Lloyd. The GEC again fully opposed the closure of Garston and
put forward what we believe are very reasonable proposals for setting up a
satellite contact centre nearer to Garston as an alternative to compulsory
moves to Bootle if DWP insist on closing the Garston site.
Management
refused to agree to set up a satellite mainly on grounds of cost. Yet
management have already set up satellite contact centres in Skegness, Luton,
Lancaster, Redruth, Boston and Gravesend where nobody wanted them.
Now
when creating a satellite site would overcome the genuine concerns of staff at
Garston suddenly there is no money. The GEC stressed strong disappointment at
this response.
50% Strike pay
All
PCS members will take part in a 1 day national strike on Wednesday 15 October
as part of a TUC week of action for fair pay with millions of other public
servants in Local Government, the NHS and Education.
The
PCS national disputes committee has agreed to authorise 50% strike pay for all
members that take part in the 5 day strike over the closure of Garston CC.
Strike pay will be paid for 4 days – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, but
not the national strike day on Wednesday.
Garstons fight is your
fight
These
5 days of strike action by our members at Garston shows their fantastic
commitment in their fight to keep their office open. It will mean a
considerable loss of pay for them.
The
closure of the Garston CC is part of the government and DWP cuts. The NEC and
the GEC believe that the Garston members fight is a key part of the bigger
fight against the cuts that affect every PCS member. The action they are taking
is action on behalf of us all.
Urgent bucket
collections
That
is why the GEC is strongly calling on ask every member to give generously
to help the members at Garston financially. Let’s make sure that members at
Garston fighting to keep their office open are not left out of pocket.
