Union supports MP’s concerns for health and safety

21 Apr 2008

The work and pensions select committee’s report into ‘The role of the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Executive in regulating workplace health and safety’

(http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmworpen/246/246i.pdf)

which is published today, warns that if a move to a single HSE headquarters in Bootle goes ahead there could be a significant loss of expertise as many of the current staff will be unwilling to relocate to Bootle.

PCS Pickets in Swindon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above are two pictures of picket lines in Swindon, at the Inland Revenue and the Magistrates Court. This was part of national action by the union against job cuts and privatisation. More action could follow as the government job cull continues.

There is also the prospect of ballots for strike action for local government and NHS workers against the government’s staggered pay increase which adds up to a miserly 1.9%.

Civil servants say yes to national civil service strike

23 Jan 2007
Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) have overwhelmingly voted for ongoing national industrial action across the civil service as the government continue to fail to give assurances on job security, drive down pay and pursue a dogmatic policy of outsourcing and privatisation.61.3 % of members taking part in the ballot voted for strike action and 77.9% voted in favour of action short of a strike as key services continue to suffer as a result of the government’s drive to cut 100,000 civil and public service jobs, the use of consultants spirals out of control and staff face below inflation pay offers.

The first stoppage will be a one day strike on 31 January 2007 which is the deadline for self assessment tax returns and will be followed up by a two week overtime ban. In addition to hitting HM Revenue and Customs, the industrial action will impact on over 200 government departments, agencies and non departmental public bodies including, jobcentres, benefit offices, passports, driving exams, the Ministry of Defence, courts service and national museums and galleries.

Commenting, Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “This overwhelming vote in favour of industrial action illustrates the depth of anger amongst the government’s own workforce against crude job cuts and below inflation pay offers. Patience has worn thin with services suffering as a result of job cuts, billions being spent on private sector consultants and some of the lowest paid facing a pay cut in real terms.

“The people who have said they will go on strike to defend the services we all take for granted aren’t high flying mandarins or faceless bureaucrats, but hard working and often low paid civil and public servants delivering everything from passports, tax and benefits to supporting our armed forces and driving tests. If the government are going to avoid ongoing industrial action, starting with disruption to the self assessment deadline then they need to give assurances over jobs, services and privatisation as well as making serious headway in tackling pay inequalities and low pay in the civil service and related bodies. I call on the management of the civil service to get around the table with us again and discuss our concerns.”

Death knell sounds for 200 tax office jobs

By Emily Walker

From Swindon Advertiser

MORE than 200 people working for the tax office in Swindon will lose their jobs by 2010.

Union leaders are in discussions this week, following the announcement of plans to leave just a handful of staff working for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Swindon office by 2010.

The Public and Commercial Services union has vowed the fight the closure of the Farnsby Street office that employs 210 workers on its payroll.

PCS’s Swindon chairman Phil Robbins said: “The government has said it plans to close the Swindon tax office by 2010. “The nearest offices will be Southampton, Birmingham and Bristol. Not only will that put people’s jobs in serious jeopardy, but people using the service could also have to travel long distances.”

Mr Robbins said the government programme to make the tax service leaner was the result of more people using new technology to pay tax bills, get advice and manage debts.

Staff at Swindon’s HMRC office were told about the threat to their jobs last Thursday.“We would have thought in a town as big as Swindon it would have been viable to keep this office open. More people in the area are now making payments with debit cards or online.

But not everyone can do that. And it is more likely to be the same people who would struggle to travel to Bristol to meet someone in person, ” said Mr Robbins.

Union members have not decided to strike yet, but if a walkout went ahead, there could be hold-ups in tax bills being paid, and P45s being sent out and rebates being settled.

The union said the service already had more than a million tax credit repayments, tax returns, p45s, and tax codes in a backlog of unposted mail, and job cuts would only make problems worse.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said the tax service would be “unfit” if 15 per cent of its budget was axed between 2008 and 2011. Mr Serwotka said: “PCS will fight these job cuts and office closures, not only on behalf of our members but to protect the public service we provide, often to the most vulnerable members of our communities.”

An HMRC spokeswoman said:

“No concrete decisions have been made at the moment and staff in Swindon will get a chance to give feedback from February next year.

Swindon is part of a cluster of offices within a 25-mile radius so we would be looking to relocate staff within 25 miles.

People working similar jobs will work in the same office, which makes sense and saves money.

In places where we already have an inquiry centre, the inquiry service will be kept within a few miles. So people will be able to make inquiries in Swindon, but there would be a few people rather than few hundred working in the office.”