Branch Secretary report

Branch Secretary, Phil Mount takes the opportunity look back and reflect over what has happened and what the branch has achieved since the AGM in February 2019.

Firstly, I would say it has not been an easy year, particularly with unprecedented levels of personal representation and I thank and commend the hard work of my fellow Officers and BEC members for pushing through. Since the AGM of 2019 we have seen 6 Representatives resign but it has been great to see a high number of members expressing a desire to join the Branch Executive Committee (BEC) in the same time that has seen 10 New members join the committee by way of co-option to fill the vacancies. It is further encouraging to see new faces seeking nomination for the 2020 Branch positions meaning we should have no shortage of willing representatives for the year ahead. If you are interested and haven’t yet put a nomination in for the 2020 AGM, feel free to come and talk to us in Room 1.19 (The Capital Building) or email us. If you want to find out what we do just click here.

One of the notable achievement of the year is the success the branch had at both Home Office Group and National Conferences back in May where we had 3 excellent motions to Group conference carried and 2 Motions, both related to Neurodiversity, carried at National Conference. Click here to read more about our motion calling for the overhaul of discriminatory online job applications.

A stand out moment of the year was when, as a branch, we smashed the 50% threshold in the 2019 PCS pay ballot. 54.5% of members in PCS Home Office Merseyside Branch voted in the pay ballot, comfortably beating the government-imposed 50% minimum turnout before a ballot result is allowed to legally stand under the harshest anti-Trade Union law of it's kind anywhere in the western world. Whilst this was undoubtedly a great result, if just 250 more members in this branch alone had voted in that ballot we may have been able to do something about the imposed Pay "award" in the Home Office this year as we would have pushed the Home Office Group above 50%. We are encouraged that PCS members delivered the highest yes vote and turnout in the history of the union. But ultimately these undemocratic, anti-union strike laws prevented strike action once again. Looking ahead we must all encourage our colleagues to join the union and to vote in the next ballot if we want to try to do something about pay.

Our representatives have again been kept busy representing you in personal cases at record high levels for the branch as the branch membership continues to grow year on year and is on track to pass 2000 members in the coming months. There are still undoubtedly new joiners in the Home Office who haven’t attended a PCS induction or who we are yet to speak to about joining and you can help us. If you know about groups of new starters in your area contact the branch inbox so we can arrange more PCS inductions.

Your branch representatives have met regularly with management across the branch on a wide range of issues and continue to update members of progress through the branch website and mailshots. With more of our newer Reps getting experience in attending these meetings and feeding back we hope to continue and have more constructive engagement with the employer in the year ahead and deliver for our members.

I look forward to working with your Branch members and Reps in whatever capacity in the year ahead.

Phil Mount (Branch Secretary)