TUC News
I had no idea that the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union was in such dire financial straits, even though the prospect of a merger with Unite has been on the cards for some time.
So this article from Private Eye, the UK's best and only fortnightly satirical magazine, was a bit of an eye opener, for me anyway.
TUC NEWS
Naive members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union might have expected their famously left-wing leader Mark Serwotka to defend union reps who stand up for their workers.
In May 2013, computer maker Hewlitt-Packard supplied branch secretary John Pearson with details of its plans to sack 584 workers. Pearson did what any decent union official would have done, and warned his members they were about to lose their jobs. HP treated his decision to let men and women know that their livelihoods were about to be taken away from them as insubordination.It suspended and later dismissed him on a charge of breaching company confidentiality.
Outrageous behaviour by an arrogant and cruel employer, any trade unionist (and many a non- trade unionist) would think. But far from defending a comrade in need, Serwotka said the PCS would not finance his appeal to an employment tribunal. Pearson had to pay for his own solicitor. He is pleased that he did, because the tribunal ruled that HP had unfairly punished him for doing no more than engaging in legitimate union activities.
The verdict would have been a triumph for trade union rights, if Pearson's own union had not abandoned him. The increasingly Stalinist Serwotka was more concerned with doing down a member of a rival left-wing group than defending his members. Serwotka's rule is supported by the Socialist Party (the old Militant Tendency) and the Socialist Workers Party (currently being torn apart by accusations that it covered up rapes). Pearson is a supporter of Independent Left, a faction led by the Alliance for Workers' Liberty.
It has embarrassed Serwotka no end by reminding him of his promise to take only a "workers wage" if elected to high office. In fact he takes an annual package of £124,876 - five times the wage of the average PCS member - and will retire on a pension of £64,000 a year. His love of money is all the more embarrassing because the PCS is in a financial crisis and is considering selling its HQ in south London and merging with Unite.
Small wonder that Serwotka will not lift a finger to help union members who point out that while he has grown rich the PCS has grown poor.
'Blackleg'
