branch secretary, Department of Transport CPSA, North and North Wales, personal capacity Negotiations are currently taking place between the Civil and Public Service Association (CPSA) and Public Tax and Commerce, with a view to merger next year. If the merger goes ahead it will create a civil service union with about 270,000 members.
As part of a run up to the merger ballot expected in the autumn members had a ballot on a document called "Aims and Values' foisted on them.
This document appeared just af. Ken no one win ing, and members were asked to endorse it. This apparently has been agreed by the membership, although as yet no voting figures have The aim of the document is to lessen the existing democracy, in favour of a union which is demo cratic and member centred, efficient in the use of resources, and above ar strong and erecave on your behalf... you wil have an equal right to vote in key union elections and on major changes to the union's policies or rules.
Quite clearty, the leadership wishes to impose some kind of one member one vote system to sup boy make the union more democratic. Likewise, elections to the NEC and conference will be come biennial.
"Moderates"
These are changes that the right wing (so called moderate leadership have attempted to introduce before without success. They are now attempting to use the merger ballot as means to sneak in a new work against the interests of mem. bers.
Ine merger nerobatons are, of course, taking place against a backdrop of continued attacks on the public sector. Since 1992, nearty 70,000 permanent civil service jobs tion and cutbacks. In the same period, the number of staff on temporary contracts has increased on average by 41.5 percent.
At the same time, figures recently published by the government's own Efficiency Unit show that market an estimated €240 milion, not 6544 million as previously claimed.
Roger Freeman, the minister with responsibility for privatising the that two fifths of that figure were niques" such as internal restructur While government difficulties are to be welcomed, jobs are still under threat in all departments. For examthreatened with the loss of 1750 obs, the Deartment of Transport is currently losing jobs, as is the recently privatised HIMSO, and the list goes on While fine words are said about how strong a new union would be. and the need to protect jobs and services, no strategy to achieve this is fortncoming, isA leaders claim to have led a whole host of actions in defence of jobs, yet these have all remained isolated and departmentalised.
No strategy Since the national strike of November 1994, there has been no clear strategy to combat privatisation other than in-house bids.
Unfortunately, the election of a Labour government is not going to be the panacea some thought. While the immediate threat of privatisation might be afted, we are left doine more work with fewer staff, with a continuing decline in real wages. here? Quite simply, we must urge al members to vote against the document "Building a new We are not opposed to al merger with PTC, but it is unacceptable on the terms presented working conditions - they were sacked for merely refusing to take a pay cut.
They are 53 Asian women not used to standing up in public, but they decided to come out and say "you're not going to do this to us, you're not going to take away our obs, it's brihant, and incy vc oo come more and more confident over 17 months.
The way they've been stabbed in the back by UNISON is shameful, no trade union should do that to its members. We support them, we al. ways mention them when we speak, and will continue to do so whether they are official or unofficial.
We have a very close affinity with the dockers, they've been on our picket une and we ve ocen on theirs, we've supported their mass pickets and demonstrations (unfortunately we turned up late after the demonstration, so we did the route on our own! and they've turned out on ours. We will be at the march for social ustice on April 12 with our brand new banner, which is brilliant.
Those in dispute must get together and support and help each other and this is one of the reasons It's important that information 1s starca and aceworks set up that can provide support for large and
As desperate Tories try to railroad through Tube privatisation New line needed to defend railways! • INDUSTRY Greg Tucker (RMT National Executive) TRANSPORT policy is shaping up to be a major issue in the run up to the general election.
ns ine phvalsed South West train services have descended into farce, with lack of drivers leading to mass cancellations of trains, and passenger complaints have doubled, the Tories have responded by proposing to give away the one remaining public sector railway u London Underground.
Labour's policies offer no alternative. Having abandoned any thought of renationalisation, they make vague promises about "acting tough" with the existing franchise holders, and their solution to the investment crisis LUL - a version of the Tories' dis- is no solution at all.
PFI is far more expensive than conventional investment by government, is complex and time consuming and simply will not produce the goods for the essential work needed on track and signal.
in The answer lies in the action of rail workers themselves. South West Trains now faces further disruption as the RMT ballots its members in a dispute over management imposition of new contracts cleaning and maintenance staff.
Other rail workers in the south east have scored a notable victory without even firing a shot. AMBC, the recently privatised track main. tenance company, has been forced to back down after its attempt to impose worse conditions provoked a united response from RMT members.
Attacks
Both these instances show the reality of privatisation: the only Wayne moane Cake money is by launching attacks on the workforce.
Rail privatisation was a compier, drawn-out allair, with the system broken up into many fragments. What was one public serv ice, British Rail, is now made up of well over 100 interlinking private companies.
But a new shape is developing. On the one hand, a handful of major players dominate. On the operating side, bus companies are taking a lead, Stagecoach, National Busa Virgin and Connex (the French Generale des Baux) berunning most of the network. On the track maintenies such as Balfour Beattie have taken over.
On the other hand, they are do. ing so with ever more and smaller contracts. Rail workers were moved from BR to the new companies, but felt protected by the fact that they were still part of major workforces with some muscle. Going for a song? Only a bargain basement price will attract private bidders for the decrepit Tube network.
Now they find themselves be ing moved around between companies, depending on who wins relatively short term contracts for small sections, sometimes of under 20 workers. New management techniques are being applied with a vengeance.
An industrial strategy which is capable of responding to this new situation is needed. Unfortu. nately, the three main unions have opted for widely different solutions.
Anti-union laws
ASLEF and the TSSA have entered into deeper and deeper collusion with management, and in the process have been forced to become company agents spearhead. "ing the attacks on their own members. The RMT has tried to resist but has yet to find a way of unifying its membership in the face of the anti-union laws which keep every dispute isolated.
ASLEF has played on its craft TOURS try to negotiate special deals for drivers.
11-hour shifts In practice, this has meant sacrificing hard won rights at work and massive extensions of work time (shift lengths up to 11 hours a day, average 46 hour weeks) in exchange for huge increases in basic pay.
But the small print, huge sickness and attendance penalties etc, mean little pay gains at great expense in lost conditions. The only winner is ASLEF HQ, who at least make a profit out of union subs The TSSA has opted for single union deals to excruac any compe tition, and kowtowing to management at every turn to keep them SOCCE At AMEC, 1,000 RMT members found themselves derecognised in favour of the TSSA, who Dudlook only one company at a time. The responsibility for negotiation has devolved from the national leadership to regional lay officials who often lack the confidence to stand up to their new managers.
It is vital that we rapidly develop a strategy which develops confidence and unifies the membership.
Partly, this must be achieved by putting forward common demands which respond to the realities rail workers face.
Conditions
For instance, in the face of increasing acmands trom manake ment for more ilexibility and increases in the working week, we should be posing the demand for a 35 hour week with no loss of pay for all rail workers, and for agreement to a core set of conditions across every company.
At the same time we need to find an answer to the transfer of work between companies, The union is