Do not fill in the DWP Staff Survey

The PCS DWP Group Executive Committee (GEC) met on the 27th September and agreed to recommend that all PCS members in the DWP do not fill in the staff survey and do not complete it. PCS colleagues in the HMRC are also being asked to boycott the staff survey. Completion of the staff survey is entirely voluntary. Talk to your PCS rep or email Leeds’pcs.org.uk if you are put under any pressure to complete it.  

Management misuse past surveys

This decision was taken because it has become clear to PCS that management pick and choose the results of the staff survey to bring in detrimental policies such as the hated and discredited performance system. For instance management have justified the ‘must improve’ category in the people performance policy and the increase in the use of ‘Performance Improvement Plans’ (PIPs) from the results of the survey is previous years. Yet the truth is that only a small minority of staff completing previous staff surveys support these hated policies. 

Management do not listen

The GEC recognises that some members feel the staff survey is an opportunity to express their view to management. In the past PCS has encouraged members to complete the survey. But the GEC believes that the survey has been manipulated to bring about poorer working conditions and should therefore now be boycotted.

It is a fact that all previous Staff Surveys have found that a large proportion of staff have no faith in senior managers. Management have done nothing about this. Staff are the most valued resource DWP has and their views should be listened to and acted on.

A message must be sent to DWP management that we have had enough of lip service being paid to members issues.

  

We need more staff not more pressure

The performance management system is being used to put unrealistic pressure on PCS members to meet targets despite cuts in staff numbers, whilst the DWP are claim that employment levels are increasing and workloads are dropping. We know this is nonsense. 

The DWP has cut over 20,000 staff since 2010. PCS believes there is a staffing crisis in the DWP and for that reason has submitted a staffing claim to the department to return to 2010 staffing levels. PCS members should not face continuing pressure and unrealistic targets because of the drive to cut public spending and services.

Don’t undermine negotiations

Over the summer PCS has been consulting our members and reps on our national campaign. It is quite clear from those meetings that job security, low pay and attacks on terms and conditions are what concern you.

PCS will continue to demand that the Government talk to the union at a national central level to deal with these issues. The staff survey will not win us better pay and conditions.

In the DWP over 75% of staff are members of PCS. Management know we are strong campaigning union. We are stronger when we speak with one voice. Don’t let management keep using the staff survey to undermine proper negotiations.

Say no to management pressure

It was reported to the GEC that management this year are being particularly pro-active in trying to get staff to complete the staff survey.

Local management are using scare tactics such as claiming offices would be under threat for closure if it does not get good results. This is not true.

The staff survey is voluntary

Remember - the staff survey is voluntary and no-one should be put under any pressure to complete it. If you are feel coerced or in any way forced to complete it immediately tell your PCS rep or email leeds@pcs.org.uk .

Stick together

By not completing the staff survey PCS members working in the DWP will be sending a clear message to DWP management that:

·         You have had enough of the manipulation of staff survey for detrimental change

·         You will not be pressured into filling in a  survey that gets misused and does not solve the key issues affecting you.

Please support the boycott and encourage others to do the same

PCS opposes Conditionality Week

PCS was outraged by the DWP decision to run a ‘Conditionality Week’, which was to be about ‘celebrating how far we have come since the introduction of tougher sanction levels last year’, according to the departments headline news page.  Across the country it was planned to hold events which could include quizzes, reward and recognition events and dedicated conditionality sessions.

The Group Executive Committee (GEC) discussed this when they met on 27^th September and unanimously agreed to oppose Conditionality Week. The GEC wrote to management to request that all events are cancelled. This is because the GEC believe that it is inappropriate for civil servants to celebrate controversial political welfare reform changes and it is abhorrent that claimants being left without benefit should be something anyone rejoices in. At best, this is poor taste, at worst these are cynical actions intended to pressurise staff to make sanction referrals and to normalise the impact that sanctioning has on claimants and their families.

The GEC therefore welcomes the department’s response that Conditionality Week has either been cancelled or very much scaled down. PCS is shocked that the DWP would think the concept of a celebratory Conditionality Week is

acceptable, especially given media reports of the rise in the number of families using foodbanks and in some cases claimants self-harming due to sanctioning.

We are also very concerned that even harsher changes to welfare programmes are being announced at the Conservative Party conference this week.

In line with conference policy the GEC will continue to oppose the conditionality and sanctioning regime including the pressure put on staff to make sanction referrals whether through targets, ‘expectations’ or the culture of fear in jobcentres. Arranging ‘Conditionality Week’ exposes that DWP are not serious in tackling the ‘target culture’ identified in the Couling report of 15^th May which the GEC is challenging.

Select Committee

To complement our campaign work PCS gave evidence to the Parliamentary work and pensions select committee on the role of jobcentreplus in the reformed welfare state on 11^th September. The transcript is now available online at - (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmworpen/uc479-iii/uc47901.htm) Members are invited to provide feedback on the information presented.  

PCS made strong points about the need for more staff to deliver a more holistic public employment service, and how the focus and direction of jobcentreplus service

delivery was very much on conditionality and ‘off-flow by any means’.

PCS stated that whether it is called a target or an expectation, that the reality for people who work in jobcentres is that it has the same effect on them.

The GEC will follow up this activity through additional evidence, parliamentary questions and MPs briefings in the coming weeks

Provide PCS with your evidence

The GEC will continue to explore how the union can collectively respond and actively oppose the conditionality regime and target culture that plagues jobcentres at present. We have agreed to continue to provide evidence to the employer of the ‘perverse behaviour’ on labour market decision making and appeals (DMA) activity.

Members have started to provide evidence and we ask that you continue to do so through your local PCS representative or to operational.tus@dwp.gsi.gov.uk.

The GEC do understand that some members may be concerned about confidentiality including those in the management grades. The GEC assures members that they will be not identified to management, and can approach their representatives discreetly.

Our work on opposing the sanctioning regime forms part of the union’s overall campaigning on welfare reform. Further updates will provided to members and representatives on the next steps in this in important area of work.

Hovis workers win – Zero hours contracts are toast

Other trade unions had been watching the Wigan dispute closely, as one of the smallest unions in the UK took industrial action against so-called "as and when" contracts which BFAWU said allowed management to push down wages and increase insecurity among staff. 

Hovis bakery workers in pre-dawn picket at Wigan site. 18 September 2013

Continue reading at http://union-news.co.uk/2013/09/hovis-workers-win-zero-hours-contracts-toast/

Fire chiefs issue safety advice ahead of strike

WIGAN fire chiefs have offered safety advice to residents ahead of strike action.

Stand-in crews will be in use across the borough tomorrow (Wednesday) although the service will be operating at a reduced capacity during the strike hours from 12pm to 4pm.

County fire officer Steve McGuirk said: “Local people need to start thinking about their own safety - make sure they have a working smoke alarm, know the main causes of fire, have a fire escape plan and carry out a bedtime routine.

“We have recruited and trained an Emergency Fire Crew to provide fire cover. This will be much reduced from our usual service with fewer engines attending a limited range of incidents and we will be prioritising calls.”

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is in dispute with the government about pensions plans.
The following advice has been issued by Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS).

ROAD SAFETY:
If you’re on the roads during the strike, take extra care - you can read advice for safer driving on our website www.manchesterfire.gov.uk/updates/take_extra_care.aspx.

By staying vigilant and following these simple tips you can avoid being involved in a crash on the roads:

Reduce your speed and give yourself time to react - you never know what’s around the corner.
Never use your mobile phone when driving, pull over somewhere safe before making or taking a call.

Always wear your seatbelt and make sure your passengers are wearing theirs.

Keep your distance - remember the two second rule. Leave plenty of space between you and the vehicle in front.

If you are feel tired take a break - driving while tired can be lethal.

Drive for the conditions - in wet weather stopping distances are at least double those for stopping on dry roads.

HOME SAFETY:

Steps you can take to help yourself and reduce the demand on the basic fire cover that GMFRS is providing on Wednesday:

Get a working smoke alarm

Know what could cause a fire in your home and make sure you and your family know how to prevent it.

Plan your escape in case there is a fire.

Look out for family and neighbours.

Only dial 999 in a genuine emergency

DIALLING 999: 

GMFRS is asking the public to help by taking extra care and only dialling 999 if they need a fire engine, whilst the industrial action is taking place.

The priority of the Service on Wednesday afternoon will be to respond to priority calls where a life may be at risk or someone needs to be rescued.

If GMFRS responds to non-emergency calls then those most in need could be at risk.
A non-emergency call could be to someone who is locked outside their house or where debris has fallen in the road - there are other agencies and organisations that can help in this instance.

However, you should still call 999 in an emergency so that an experienced Control Room operator can deal with your situation and please don’t call your local fire station directly.

For further information on taking extra care during the strike, please visit http://www.manchesterfire.gov.uk/updates/take_extra_care.aspx



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Get the new PCS Wigan app via the Google app store (for Android smartphones & tablets)

Now available on the Google App Store

The official PCS Wigan app is now available on the Google App Store. Keep updated on PCS News, including twitter, flickr and youtube. Contact PCS directly via the app or simple check the weather for Wigan.

Finally, for entertainment we've included mobile gaming classic Snake and a live feed of Wigan FM.

The apps available FREE from the Google App Store on your android device.

Tory Conference - 29th Sept

PCS, as part of the TUC, is supporting a rally at the Conservative party conference on 29 September.  

An estimated 30,000 people are expected to attend.

The agreed themes of the day are:

• Save the NHS 
• Invest in jobs 
• No to austerity

PCS will be pushing its own 'Stop the cuts' agenda. 

Invite your friends and colleagues with our Facebook event listing.

Timings

• 11.00 - Assemble at Liverpool Road 
• 12.30 - Move off via city centre - including Deansgate and Lower Mosely Street - to Whitworth Park (approx. 2.5 miles)
• 14:00 - Rally with music and speeches 

We'd love you to come along. If your interested please speak to your office rep our contact the pcswigan@gmail.com email and we'll let you know what time we're travelling.

Thompsons Law

Thompsons

Voluntary Exit Scheme announced in DWP Operations

DWP have today announced five separate voluntary exit schemes in various parts of DWP Operations. The schemes are targeted at certain groups of staff in particular grades. Management expect up to 1,700 jobs to be lost across Operations as a result of this exercise. PCS is completely opposed to these savage and unnecessary job cuts. 

Management claim that they are forced to run this exercise due to the severe financial and staffing pressures they face, especially from April 2014. Specifically management claim that they have to lose staff because work volumes are falling and they have to live within a staffing budget that has been arbitrarily cut by 10%. Welfare reform changes have also, management claim, led to a need for less staff. However the uncertainty over when further welfare changes, such as Universal Credit and increased conditionality, may happen make the longer term staffing picture very unclear.

Scheme One

All AAs in DWP Operations are eligible to apply for this scheme, apart from those at Blackpool Disability Centre. Management want 750 AAs to leave under this scheme. This would equate to around 30% of the total numbers of AAs in Operations.

Scheme Two

Those eligible to apply for this scheme are:

·         HEOs and SEOs in Benefit Directorate Centres, apart from those in Disability Centres.

·         Any EO or HEO in Contact Centre Services, apart from those in NMT.

 

·         Surplus AO staff in Contracted Customer Services.

 

Management want 170 staff to leave under from these areas.

Scheme Three

Those eligible to apply for this scheme are any AO, EO, HEO SEO or Grade 7 in Operational Excellence Directorate who work in either Change Delivery or Operational Infrastructure, or who are surplus. Management want 240 staff to leave under this scheme.

Scheme Four

Those eligible to apply for this scheme are:

·         AO, EO, HEO, SEO & Grade 7 staff in DWP Visiting. Management want up to 200 staff to leave from this area.

 

·         AO and EO staff in certain specified Job Centres in four Districts (Cumbria & Lancashire, Kent, Essex and West of Scotland). Management are seeking very small numbers from these offices.

 

·         Any surplus staff in WSD.

 

·         AO, EO and HEO staff badged to transfer to the new Customer Compliance structure from 1st October 2013. Management are seeking around 100 staff to leave from this area.

 

·         EO and HEO staff in Child Maintenance group badged as Legal Enforcement, Investigators, Inspectors or Court Presenting Officers. Management want 46 staff to leave from this area.

Scheme Five

AO, EO and HEO staff in Operational Excellence FIS employed on FIS Intelligence, Central Prosecution team and Incident Management team.

Eligibility in these areas will vary by grade and location. Management want 98 staff to leave from these areas.

Terms of the Schemes

The Group Executive Committee (GEC) pressed management for the most generous terms possible to be made available but DWP have instead offered the standard terms for voluntary exits. The terms on offer are therefore the same as have been offered in other recent voluntary exit schemes.

Management want to be able to allow as many as possible of those who apply to leave. However, where schemes are over-subscribed, there will be a selection exercise using the standard DWP workforce management criteria of performance, competencies and attendance. In addition business needs may dictate that an individual will not be allowed to leave in particular circumstances.

Management are emphasising that all of these schemes are entirely voluntary and are not planned as any kind of precursor to a move towards compulsory redundancies. 

Vicinity

These schemes are scattered around a large number of DWP offices. In many cases there will be sites where some staff are eligible to apply and yet other staff in the same grade but on a different section are not eligible to apply. The GEC pressed management to widen the schemes to avoid this happening, but they refused

 

PCS Response – More staff not Less

PCS is completely opposed to these savage and unnecessary job cuts. We firmly believe that DWP needs more staff not less. Over 20,000 staff have left DWP since 2010 and the department should not allow any more to leave. PCS has of course made our opposition to this scheme very clear to management.

Members are already working under excessive pressure to keep on top of their workloads with the staff that we have now. This pressure and stress will increase even more if 1,700 staff are allowed to leave, on top of the normal turnover of staff and with no recruitment or promotion planned.

The GEC believe the department is being over-reliant on recent dips in unemployment to justify these staff cuts. Our view is that it is still very unclear whether the long term trend is for unemployment to fall and the risks of further increases remain all too real. In fact, in many regions, unemployment is actually still increasing. It is also madness for any jobs to be cut when, as we are repeatedly told remains the case, DWP has to convert 7 million claims to Universal Credit by the end of 2017.

The GEC will continue to campaign for more permanent jobs to lift the pressure on staff, for promotion and career development opportunities and a fully funded DWP that provides excellent customer service.   

 

 

Strike Action at Hovis Wigan (update)

 Press Release re: Strike Action at Hovis (Premier Foods), Wigan Update

 The BFAWU dispute at Hovis (Premier Foods), Wigan was called due to the company's decision to bring in agency workers and zero hours contracts within forty-eight hours of making thirty workers redundant. This took place despite reaching an agreement to reduce hours on site in order to avoid the need for redundancies in the first place.

Since the industrial action began on August 28th, the company’s behaviour has been erratic at best. We have reason to believe that they hired local ‘heavies’ to intimidate striking BFAWU members, which is deplorable conduct if proven to be true. In addition to this, the company has apparently refused to allow employees to take part in a charity bike ride in order to raise money for the MacMillan Cancer Support Charity. Thankfully, the Union’s solicitors for the North West area (Walker, Smith, Way) have stepped in and agreed to donate the amount of money that would have been raised by these employees on their behalf. Again, the company’s behaviour is hard to fathom.

One of the more curious aspects of Hovis’ response to the action taken by BFAWU members was their flat denial of the use of zero hours contracts in the media before later admitting that they do use them after all. They then claimed that the Union had asked for zero hours contracts to be put in place which is of course, absolute nonsense. The food industry has always used temporary workers; in fact most of the people employed in twelve week temporary positions at Hovis in the past have usually found their way to permanent employment with the company. The Union believes that this process was a good way of ensuring that the company was able to meet its business needs as well as retain skills. The ‘as and whens’ as they are called at Wigan had always been guaranteed work of at least thirty-nine hours a week and received the same pay as those they worked alongside with. Whilst this was not the preferred option, it did at least secure employment contracts to individuals.

During the week long action, the Union met with the company, whereby they confirmed that they had removed the remaining zero hours contracts that they had on site and have given/offered the employees concerned, permanent roles with Hovis. This is a small victory for the Union and we would like to welcome the twenty-four new employees who now have full contracts and thus, equal pay and employment rights; rights that they wouldn’t have, had it not been for the efforts of BFAWU members at that site. However, the real issue of agency worker exploitation is still a long way from being resolved. The company’s desire to widen the use of agency labour will merely amount to zero hours contracts being supplied by a third party and does not seek to address the hours or earnings that have been lost by our members in order to reduce the need for redundancies which led to this dispute in the first place.

Agency workers and those on zero hours contracts don't have the same employment rights as standard, full-time employees and our members at Hovis, Wigan believe that is unfair. They believe that they should not only be on the same rates of pay, but enjoy the same terms and conditions. The BFAWU’s position therefore remains clear; this issue can be settled by the company agreeing to pay all workers the recognised rates of pay and guaranteeing them the same employment rights. As before, the Union is more than prepared to talk to the company in order to resolve this dispute. The way forward is to engage in meaningful negotiation, not cheap, petty and vindictive behaviour.

As the situation is still unresolved, action by BFAWU members is set to continue with week long strikes taking place on the following dates:

6.00am on September 11th 2013 until 6.00am on September 18th 2013

6.00am on September 25th 2013 until 6.00am on October 2nd 2013

The BFAWU and its members at Hovis, Wigan would like to thank members of the public and local communities as well as Members of Parliament from various UK constituencies along with fellow Trade Unions for their overwhelming support during this dispute.

Geoff Atkinson

(BFAWU No.4 Organising Regional Secretary)

Standing up for fair pensions

The union's campaign for fair pensions for all took centre stage on Tuesday morning at congress.

 

Debating composite motion eight that condemned the austerity measures that have impacted so heavily on private and public sector pension schemes, PCS took issue with a penultimate paragraph in the motion which stated: ... “the need for individuals and their employers to pay more into defined contribution pension pots...”

On behalf of PCS Cheryl Gedling made it clear the union could not support any motion that conceded an increase in pension contributions from tens of thousands of our low paid members.
“This is contrary to our policy because we are still involved in a campaign to protect pensions,” she said. “Defined contribution schemes are high cost and high risk and show a lack of transparency. They are starting to replace decent workplace schemes for our members in the private sector.”
“We must fight against the rising of the state pension age, a campaign that can be won and must be won. Who can forget 30 November, 2011? We stood together and took action. We should fight for a decent state pension, for a decent retirement age and for dignity in retirement.”

The same reservations with the motion that PCS expressed were echoed by speakers from other unions including: the Fire Brigades Union, University and College Union and the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers.

The motion was passed.

Read more of our congress reports.