Make you vote count

The general election campaign gives PCS activists and members the chance to get our issues in front of candidates and to highlight to members the importance of getting involved in the democratic process.

We are asking candidates to pledge to support well-funded public services, help end the public sector pay freeze and back our campaign for tax justice, if elected MPs on 7 May
 

Key pledges

All branches are being encouraged to get involved in this year’s general election by asking their local candidates to support our 5 key election pledges:

• to end the public sector pay cap as it is unfair, unnecessary and damaging to the economy
• campaign for well-funded public services, publicly accountable and delivered by valued public sector staff – and oppose privatisation and offshoring
• support a well-resourced publicly-delivered social security service that provides a decent standard of living, and support the removal of the sanctions regime
• support investment in HM Revenue and Customs and legislative changes to close the tax gap
• encourage the government to engage in meaningful negotiations with all recognised trade unions, and to restore check-off and facility time for reps.

We will be reporting what our activists have had back from candidates as well as summarising what the party manifestos mean for our members.

A big part of the Make Your Vote Count campaign is to highlight the importance of voting to members. By contacting candidates, feeding back on whether they support us on our issues, we can help make the election more relevant to our members. 

If you live in a safe seat you may wonder whether it is worth contacting candidates. However, making links with candidates standing in an election can help with our political campaigning going forward. An elected representative may not necessarily agree with you on all issues but if a specific one was to come up, say an office closure, that affected local jobs and services it would be an advantage if there was already an existing relationship.

Clearly we want as many candidates as possible to be aware of our national issues and to support our pledges. It’s also important to remember to localise the issues by raising office closures in your area or examples about how people in your workplace have been affected by the low pay and cuts to services.

We have all the resources you need are on our Make Your Vote Count pagesincluding an up-to-date list of candidates and a feedback form to send to your regional secretary once you have heard back from any of your candidates.