There have, in recent days, been a flurry of online posts and videos from both of the factions of the Coalition for Change (Broad Left Network and Independent Left) and their leaders, the national president and deputy president, selling their version of the chaotic and embarrassing events of last week’s National Executive Committee meeting. In these, they have been very keen to spin the narrative that they are the guardians of democracy in PCS. So, let’s talk about democracy in our union.

The joint Coalition factions do indeed have a majority on the NEC. No one questions that this gives them the mandate to lead on lots of important policy and organising decisions over the coming year.

However, while they have a majority, they do not have the kind of majority that allows them to change the rules.

It is right, in a democratic organisation, that changes to rules and standing orders require a 2/3 majority (a “supermajority”) to pass. It is also the case that any decision to change the requirement for a supermajority to amend any rules or standing orders, must first be passed under the existing rules or standing orders. The attempt of the national president to ignore this requirement by executive edict is precisely the opposite of democratic. It is dictatorial. It is also in violation of our union’s rules and contrary to clear legal advice.

This is before we even get to what the Coalition attempted to do through this improper and undemocratic move. Their proposed changes to the NEC standing orders are nothing less than a brazen and massive power-grab. Improperly removing the executive powers of the elected general secretary and handing them over to sub committees of the NEC which they can fill with their loyalists. 

Other changes would remove management responsibilities of staff from the general secretary and give it to committees of lay representatives. This goes directly against those staff members’ contracts, opening our union to legal action which could cost significant amounts of our members’ money to defend, and even more to settle. Attacking employees’ terms and conditions is not the action of true trade unionists.

To be clear, none of these changes were in their manifestos. They were not debated at NEC. They have not consulted with members or local branch representatives. 

They have no democratic mandate to undertake these changes.

Speaking of their democratic mandate, to which they fervently point to justify themselves, the national president was elected with 5,455 votes on a 6.4% turnout, the Coalition NEC majority attained a mean average of 3,971 votes. This out of an eligible voting membership of 169,864. To use this to unilaterally make fundamental changes to the basic day-to-day running of our union without our input is not democratic.

While they are very keen to repeatedly remind us that they were elected by members, they are even more desperate for us to believe that the general secretary is some mere functionary. One blog from IL stated that the general secretary should act ‘as the “civil servant” at the direction of the NEC’. This is not true. The general secretary was elected by members and her own democratic mandate. She was elected with 10,340 votes on an 11.5% turnout – nearly double that of the national president who they want us to believe has vastly more democratic legitimacy.

The general secretary is not a neutral functionary; she is an elected representative of the members. It is time that the national president and deputy president, and Coalition NEC members, respect her mandate.

They should also recognise and respect that the members did not give them a supermajority and they must work together with Democracy Alliance NEC members to agree a set of standing orders that can command a 2/3 majority.

Members in Home Office Merseyside Branch and other branches across the country need the NEC to start working on the serious issues that affect them. Low pay, arbitrary office attendance, increased hostility to reasonable adjustments, creeping generative AI usage, pensions chaos, and so much more. And our members need the NEC to discuss these in a properly constituted meeting that is not open to legal challenge. Focussing instead on creating a power-struggle in the union, attacking our hard-working staff, and prioritising access to member data over the issues that really matter is a complete dereliction of duty.

Don’t let the Coalition or national president and deputy president fool you that they are the guardians of democracy. They are the ones attempting a coup in our union – a coup that needs to be stopped.

17 June 2026