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Trade Union Facility Time in the government sector

Trade Union Facility Time in the government sector. Pam Cole, Policy Officer PCS pamela@pcs.org.uk. PCS in the Civil Service. 270,000 members across government and in privatised sector National and delegated CS recognition National Trade Union Committee National consultation

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Trade Union Facility Time in the government sector

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  1. Trade Union Facility Time in the government sector Pam Cole, Policy Officer PCS pamela@pcs.org.uk IER April 2013 - The Public Sector: cuts, privatisation and employment rights

  2. PCS in the Civil Service • 270,000 members across government and in privatised sector • National and delegated CS recognition • National Trade Union Committee • National consultation • Delegated bargaining • Delegated facility arrangements • Departmental Trade Union Sides

  3. Government perceptions • Ministerial agenda • Political lobby – protecting the taxpayer? • Cuts - cost (not benefits) • Privatisation – divesting responsibility? • The wider public sector • Austerity perspective – reason or excuse?

  4. Evidence the government ignores • BERR: Workplace representatives – a review of their facilities and facility time (2007) • TUC: The facts about facility time for union reps (2011) • NatCenSocial Research report for Unison: The value of trade union facility time – Insight, challenges, solutions (June 2012)

  5. Value of facility time in Civil Service • Consultation responses • PCS surveys • Joint projects • Delivering change • Resolving grievances • Agreements tailored to organisations • Civil Service is not just Whitehall • Managers’ needs as well as members’ needs

  6. Civil Service FT Framework • Long lead in, short consultation • Unilateral document, November 2012 • Leading questions • NTUC discussions – cut short • Ministerial announcement • Cabinet Office directive • Cost limits set • Legal constraints - acknowledged • ACAS Code – duties and activities

  7. Standardised but not agreed A fundamental rupture of industrial relations in the Civil Service • Ending or changing existing agreements • Central control or delegated authority?

  8. Impacts • Union democracy and representation • Equality and diversity • Collective bargaining machinery • Statutory responsibilities • Members’ rights • Knowledge and expertise • Individual reps

  9. Outcomes? • Fewer reps? • Less diverse union? • Lower skills and expertise? • Even worse management of change • More stress – members, reps, managers and organisation • More grievances – less access to help • Lower morale • Erosion of workplace rights

  10. PCS response • Preparation for a hostile environment • Organising strategy – Count Me In • PCS national campaign • Departmental agreements? • Tool kit – co-ordinated/tailored • Supporting reps • Supporting members • Legal challenges? • Transition plan

  11. Not just facility time; not just the Civil Service • Wider attacks • On employment rights • On trade union rights • Rest of public sector • Wider campaigning to protect rights and resist detriments • Working with TUC and IER and others

  12. We can’t just leave it to HR • “I was helped from the moment I set foot in the union room. They are a brilliant support system...My rep was in every meeting ...so I was assured all correct procedures were being adhered to” • “Support from my HR department would have been no substitute for the support I received from my union rep because I would not have felt they were ‘on my side’”

  13. www.pcs.org.uk • Public and Commercial Services Union

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