05.02.2004
SP on the rack after climbdown
Pressure is mounting on the Socialist Party-dominated leadership of the Public and Commercial Services Union following the decision of the department of work and pensions (DWP) executive to suspend strike action last week reports Lee Rock
Pressure is mounting on the Socialist Party-dominated leadership of the Public and Commercial Services Union following the decision of the department of work and pensions (DWP) executive to suspend strike action last week.
The DWP group executive voted by 21 to four to call off the two-day strike, after being offered a paltry increase of an extra £60 per year, together with new talks on management's proposed appraisal scheme. This left PCSU members in four smaller civil service departments high and dry in what had been intended as a coordinated action over pay. Union members employed in the prison service, department of constitutional affairs (DCA), home office and the tiny treasury solicitors office went ahead with the planned action in furtherance of their own pay claims. The DCA group executive has now suspended action after also receiving a marginally improved offer.
The day after the 48-hour action the SP leadership came in for severe criticism at a conference of DWP Left Unity delegates in Manchester. Left Unity is the coalition of socialists which puts up slates of candidates for the PCSU national and group leaderships. Its biggest component is the Socialist Party, but it also contains comrades from a range of socialist organisations, as well as Labour lefts. At the January 31 conference a motion proposed by SP delegates, which congratulated the DWP leadership for its running of the pay campaign, was carried by 23 votes to 22. Only the SP and its close supporters voted in favour. A motion proposed by Socialist Caucus, the left opposition within Left Unity, was defeated by 26 votes to 18. It read: "This conference condemns the decision of the GEC [group executive] to suspend industrial action for two weeks to allow further talks on PDS [appraisement] and pay. We believe this has left four smaller departments to fight on their own. We demand that management are immediately notified of our intention to call a two-day strike and a work-to-rule."
Socialist Workers Party comrades, who also send delegates to Left Unity but are not part of Socialist Caucus, put forward a rather bland motion, which attempted to steer a middle course between the two diametrically opposed positions. This motion would merely have noted the position of the GEC, but it was withdrawn by the non-SWP majority of their delegation in favour of the Caucus motion.
While the SP is, for the moment at least, saying that the offer from DWP management is insufficient, it claims that progress has been made and that it really had no choice but to suspend the action. It would have been a 'propaganda coup' for management, say the SP leaders, who would have dubbed us 'strike-happy' if we had gone ahead with the action without putting the new offer to the members. Some of them warn of the difficulty of pursuing the action in the face of a treasury pay cap: 'You can't defeat the government'.
However, management has only offered to negotiate on the appraisal system - the latest pay increase, which most members rightly think is an insult, is presented as a case of 'take it or leave it'. Yet, according to The Socialist, it was these puffed up "concessions" - ie, £60 on top of management's "derisory" pay offer, plus an offer simply to talk about appraisal - that led to the suspension of the strike (January 31). But surely with a bold campaign, exposing the 'offer' for the insult it is, it would have been easy to rally the members behind the strike. General secretary Mark Serwotka is said to be very unhappy with the suspension, especially after having so publicly associated himself with the action. But the conduct of the campaign is the responsibility of the group executive, not the top leadership.
As well as feeling the heat from within the Left Unity coalition it leads, the SP is coming under pressure from branches and individual members, many of whom have sent in their protests. It is felt that some elements of the DWP leadership might be prepared to recommend the pay offer if there is movement from management on appraisal. If that happens, there is no doubt that it will be regarded as a major sellout. Hopefully the genuine anger below will cause the leadership to think twice.
We have come so close to actually taking industrial action, that a certain level of enthusiasm has been generated, only to be dashed by the suspension. However, if we are called out again, the coordination with other departments, whose members feel sorely let down after the DWP pulled out, may now prove more difficult.
As a result of its militant approach, Socialist Caucus has increased its representation on the Left Unity slate for the elections to the executive, due in May, from three to five .
Lee Rock
London regional organiser, PCSU