Activate: The importance of taking part in the consultative survey

As part of our ongoing campaign of all-out and targeted strike action, the UK Government was forced last year to make concessions on pay and redundancy terms and committed to a series of talks on job security, low pay and pay coherence.

PCS is consulting members between 20 February and 5 March on the next steps of our campaign. We sent an email to all UK Civil Service and Scottish devolved sector members with a personalised survey link.

PCS reps need to maximise engagement in this consultation so that when it meets next month the NEC can gauge whether members are ready to move to a statutory ballot.

Our pay demands for 2024/25 to the UK Government include:

• a cost-of-living rise, with an inflation-proofed increase plus pay restoration
• pay equality across departments
• a living wage of £15 per hour
• London weighting provision of a minimum £5,000 per year
• 35 days annual leave minimum
• a significant shortening of the working week with no loss of pay.

These demands come not only as a result of recent waves of inflation. Our members have faced declining living standards as a result of pay restraint.

The survey asks members (except in the Scottish devolved sector) if they support the above PCS pay demands for 2024/25, if they would be prepared to take part in strike action to achieve them, and if they would be prepared to contribute to a levy to fund paid, targeted strike action.

As members in the Scottish sector are currently in the second year of a two-year pay deal, the questions asked are different. Those members are being asked if they support the PCS demands on pensions, if they would be prepared to take part in strike action to achieve them and if they would be prepared to contribute to a levy to fund paid, targeted strike action.

The NEC will look at the survey results and make any necessary decisions at its meeting on 6 March.

Crucial organising exercise

PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said that: “It is vital that everyone has their say on our national campaign, as we continue to fight for better pay, pensions justice and job security.”

"This will be a crucial organising exercise that will provide us with a breakdown of the results by group, branch and workplace to inform our approach to any subsequent statutory ballot."

To help activists ensure that members are ready for a potential statutory ballot in early March, she added that members should use the Organising Hub and that PCS will be running strike schools throughout March and engaging with activists and senior lay reps across the union.

PCS acting president Martin Cavanagh said that it is "big ask" for activists "to engage in such a short period of time with members. But the one thing that we’ve seen for the last 18 months is that, when asked, you step up to the challenge. You engage and you ensure members have their say."

Martin also urges activists to hold members meetings and engage face-to-face with members in the workplace, and to “use methods you’ve successful used over the past two years to engage even with members who work remotely.”