Recent elections in the Public and Commercial Services Union were disappointing, with Leit Unity (LU) failing to capture control of the National Executive Committee. Although Janice Godrich, a LU supporter won the Presidency of the Union and the bloc increased its seats from 5 to 12, the Moderates regained a small majority on the Executive at the expense of the other right wing faction Membership First. These election results are being challenged following alleged vote rigging by the Moderates. The Moderates tapped into disenchantment amongst the membership with LU's running of the Jobcentre Plus safety AS LU had control of the dispute through its dominance of the Benefits Agency (BA) and Employment Service (ES) Executives. Despite 7 months of strike action with millions being spent on strike pay, the Union failed to gain major concessions from the employer. The LU vOte Executives had no clear strategy for winning the dispute, and flat were cow to esciate IL LU would have hoped for a local large vote in the NEC elections from members in the new Department of Work and rates, Pensions (the merged BA and ES), but their handling of the dispute delivered apathy. In elections for the DWP Executive LU won a majority, but only 12.5% of members somerco to vote LU must now undergo a period of self-criticism and recognise it needs to change its ways in order to galvanise the membership.
A new dispute is likely to arise in the DWP over management plans to change the sickness rules. LU must get its act together quick.
It has to address the organisational weaknesses of the Union and ensure the membership is fully involved in its campaigns. scales. To turn around the Union it is not a case of just winning elections. Profitable Investment