Civil Servants In Northamptonshire Must Fight Back

Dear Member,

Never has there been such a concerted attack on the pay, terms and working conditions of civil servants in Northamptonshire.

We have been threatened with a pay freeze for all members earning more than £21000 per annum pro rata. We have been told our staffing levels are going to be slashed. We have seen HMRC offices closed and are likely to see some of our courts closed as well. We have been told again that the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS) is to be ripped up with us losing thousands of pounds, and the likelihood is that our pensions will be attacked as well. And in the midst of this we are being asked of ways to save billions of pounds of the Treasury’s budget.

We Need To Act Urgently

The HMRC and DWP branches of PCS are working together to support our members, and other branches will be with us very soon.

We have our own website http://pcsnorthants.blogspot.com/ where we will endeavour to keep you updated with our work and campaigning.

What You Can Do

Please take this circular home and visit our blog. On there you will find out how to respond to the Government’s request for money saving ideas. They can save billions without losing a single civil servant’s job, but we need to tell them how.

You can also find a draft letter to send to your MP to complain about the attacks on the CSCS. Remember we won our first battle about the CSCS and we can win again. Statistics show that if an MP receives just five letters on the same subject (s)he gets nervous and does try to act. There are well over 200 PCS members in each county constituency.

Please, please find just ten minutes to visit the blog and let the Treasury and your MP know the strength of feeling and that attacks on the civil service will not be tolerated.

Fraternally

Mark Edwards                      Clare Edwards
John Andrews                       Lewis Bevan

DWP                                    HMRC

Compensation scheme campaign - contact your MP

We all know that the government is planning on changing the Civil Service Compensation Scheme. We all know that if they do, it will be much easier and cheaper to make PCS members redundant. So surely it is worth five minutes of your time to contact your MP to show how strongly members feel avout this threat to jobs and services?

Simply click on this link, enter your name and address and it will produce an email which it will send to your local MP. That is all there is to it.

Remember, five minutes now might save your compensation scheme and your job.

Tell the Treasury that there is an Alternative

At first glance, Cameron and Clegg asking public sector workers to come up with ideas of how to cut their own jobs, makes the government look as if it bereft of ideas. But in truth this is simply a ruse to be able to claim that they are only carrying out the cuts that it's own workforce suggested.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Asking public servants to vote for their own cuts is breathtakingly arrogant and deceitful. Far from being 'all in this together', the approach the government is taking will hit the poorest and most vulnerable in society the hardest. As well as massive welfare cuts it is also freezing the pay of the very public sector workers that Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg now thank for their hard work."

“We need investment in public services, not cuts, to help pull the economy out of recession. Creating jobs would boost employment and tax revenue.”

We all have the opportunity to put our ideas to the treasury, via their website. Rather than give the Con Dem government ammunition to sack other PCS members, please use this opportunity to put across the case against cuts. Here are a few ideas of what to say:

1. There is more than £100 billion in evaded or uncollected taxes. Effective collection of tax, together with a "Robin Hood Tax" on financial speculation would mean that the government wouldn't even need to make swingeing cuts.

2. The govenment could save £78 billion over 30 years simply by stopping the replacement of Trident nuclear weapons.

3. Private consultants cost the tax payer millions of pounds each year and often only confirm what the staff already know! Also eliminate the farce of holding 230 separate pay negotiaitions for civil and public services and have a national pay structure.

4. Millions could be saved by putting an end to privatisation and Public Finance Initiatives.

5. The Treasury estimates that the cuts will create a further 1.3 million unemployed. This will mean more people claiming benefits and less paying income tax. Also it will mean less consumer spending which will hit private companies and cost the private sector jobs as well. How can this possibly be good for the economy?

So don't waste this opportunity to show Mr Osborne that we know there is an alternative. Simply click on http://spendingchallenge.hm-treasury.gov.uk/

Do the Maths George