Blair's contempt for safety of benefit staff
By an Employment Service striker
Public sector workers are increasingly the victims of assault at work. Last year over 5000 ‘incidents’ were reported nationally in Benefits Agency offices and 1000 in Jobcentres in the South East alone.
However Civil Servants in the Benefits Agency (BA) and Employment Service (ES) have no faith in Tony Blair to improve our safety at work, despite his zero tolerance statement. Blair is forcing BA and ES workers to work in dangerous new Jobcentre Plus (JP) offices.
On 28 and 29 January thousands of PCSU (Civil Service Union) members participated in national strike action over Jobcentre Plus.
This action has been part of a long running dispute that started when management removed protective screens in pilot JP offices and ignored the health and safety concerns of the union. Eventually all BA and ES sites are set to become JP offices with the merger of the two agencies.
JP is central to Blair’s plans to reform/wreck the benefits system. Lone parents and clients on sickness benefits will be forced into new unscreened JP offices for work-focussed interviews under threat of their benefits being removed.
Civil servants are expected to put pressure on these claimants to go out to work. The PCSU opposes compulsion and recognises its members are being exposed to an increased risk of assault working under such conditions.
Claimant groups are supportive of the PCSU in the JP dispute as they recognise civil servants should not be blamed for Government policy and accept screens are essential at present when dealing with clients in some circumstances.
Civil servants have no love for the current benefits system or screens. However screens can only safely be removed when the benefits system is reformed by increasing benefit levels and removing the likes of the all-work test and sanctions regime for JSA clients.
So far the government and management seem unmoved by the Jobcentre Plus strike action and have rejected an offer by the Union to meet them at ACAS. They hope the dispute will fizzle out and a defeat will be inflicted on a Union that is increasingly flexing its muscles.
They are being aided by union "moderates" who are trying to call off the dispute and undermine their opponents on the union’s National Executive that include Mark Serwotka, the socialist General Secretary elect.
Left Unity (LU), the main left grouping in the PCSU has little support on the Union National Executive but dominates the ES and BA Section Executives and has been able to influence the direction of the dispute.
Unfortunately it was slow to call a national strike over JP and has left rank and file members in the dark over the progress of negotiations.
The dispute has also highlighted organisational weaknesses of the union in the ES, a result of years of ineptitude by a LU dominated Section Executive.
The ES Section Executive has also failed to impress on their BA colleagues the need to produce campaigning literature specifically for ES members.
Despite these problems, more members have come out for national strike action than actually voted for it in the first place. The union is balloting to escalate the action through voting on a work to rule/overtime ban.
There is growing discontent inside JP pilot offices where members who have previously gone in are joining the dispute. To cause greater disruption, there is a need now for a programme of rolling regional action to be adopted.
The PCSU must mobilise its members in other departments to support the dispute. It must coordinate action with other striking public sector workers and claimants facing Blair’s assault.
If the dispute is won it would transform the PCSU and inspire civil servants to mobilise around their many pent up grievances such as national pay.