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Trade Union Facility Time in the government sector

Explore the value of facility time in the Civil Service, impacts of changes, and PCS response to protect members' rights and workplace democracy. Find out how unions support reps and members in this informative read.

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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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