New Worker Banner

The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

A not so civil Service

by New Worker correspondent

Cleaners and caterers at the East Kilbride branch of the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office near Glasgow (the place where colonial civil servants get their pensions from) are involved in strike action against their outsourced employer. The strikers, belonging to PCS, the main civil service union, took two days of strike action on three days last week, and with a similar pattern until 22 October.

The strike was unanimously endorsed by the workers who are seeking a minimum pay rate of at least £15 per hour, and identical employment terms to civil service employees.

PCS rejected “an insulting pay offer” from the contractor OCS, which amounts to no more than £12 per hour for most workers, and totally ignored demands for contractual sick pay from day one, an increase in annual leave to 30 days and enhanced redundancy terms where workers would receive one month’s pay for every year of service. OCS, which has £1.7 billion revenue in the UK only took over the contract from another private contractor recently.

At the start of the dispute PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote warned that “this strike action will be a powerful reminder of how fundamental our members are to keeping the FCDO running. The FCDO must now consider insourcing the contract in line with the policy of the new government.’’

Regular pickets have been maintained at the nearby train station and the strike even has support from attendees at the nearby Police College who will doubtless learn other lessons about handling industrial disputes in the course of their studies.

Rather than discuss the matter Management have brought staff up from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, but the strikers are undaunted. One said “we are prepared for the long haul here! They are throwing money away by paying people to travel up to Scotland and cover our work whilst we are on strike – they could be using that money to resolve this dispute and pay us properly in the first place”.

The fact that PCS reports that a meeting with the FCDO minister, Catherine West is scheduled for 9th October tells us much about the urgency with which the Government regards the issue.

The building is guarded by another outsourced company, the notorious G4S. They also provide security in Jobcentres which are presently involved in similar disputes. So it is not surprising that one said “we stand united in the belief that fair compensation and working conditions are essential for everyone. Your courage to voice these important issues inspires us all, and we fully support your efforts to create a better workplace for everyone”.

Meanwhile PCS announced that the long running battle on behalf of members employed by G4S at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) premises would continue after members voted to reject a poor pay offer and take industrial action by 83 and 88 per cent respectively. They are responsible for security at Jobcentres and other DWP offices where they are in the frontline when claimants, who often have much to be angry about, take their frustrations on out on the staff.

The G4S offer was £11.76 per hour for members which is only 32p above the present National Living Wage. Dates for strike action will be announced shortly.

PCS’s DWP group president Angela Grant said “it’s high time G4S did the decent thing and offered this group of scandalously low paid workers a wage they can live on. They should cough up from the huge sums of money they make from the contributions of taxpayers. The government and the DWP need to act now and bring this work in house to stop these profiteers pocketing our money.”