Support HMRC worker’s stay away

PCS members in Stoke will continue their campaign activity over coming weeks to press the HMRC to commit to firm agreements on jobs, attendance management and ending privatisation.

Further action is being planned in Stoke’s Tax Offices in week beginning 3 September. PCS members are being asked: Monday 3 September –to stay away from work from 07:00 until 09:00 and Friday 7 September – to stay away from work from 15:30 until 17:30.

Although PCS welcome the £34million being recycled into 1,000 temporary and fixed term appointments (TFTAs) rather than going to the treasury’s coffers to pay for an economic crisis not of our making, PCS believe HMRC could and should go further.

PCS says that as a minimum, all TFTAs (current and new) should be given fixed term appointment (FTA) status, meaning they have the right to apply for permanent jobs within HMRC. The civil service is increasingly becoming more casualised, both as a result of employing temporary and fixed term staff to replace permanent jobs and because of an increased use of the private sector in its contact centres.

The need for a properly staffed and funded HMRC to tackle the problem of tax avoidance and the national debt has clearly been raised through political campaigning. The need for Tax fairness is now accepted by the majority of the public, however the government are adopting a general anti-avoidance rule and the prime minister has even tried to claim that he has presided over an increase in staff levels.

Should negotiation now fail PCS members in Stoke will now join other HMRC workers throughout the country on 03/09 and 07/09 to say no to privatisation of services, to demand permanent jobs and to fight for tax justice for all.

Working class people really are “all in it together” now because we are all being hammered in so many ways by employers, the government and local councils as well. A few weeks ago it was REMPLOY workers, on the 3 and 7 September it will be PCS members taking action. 

Sooner or later it will be YOUR turn.

If you can, please give your support to PCS members on these days of action.

Visit their protests outside Blackburn House, Albion St, Hanley on 3^rd September between 07:00 and 09:00 and/or on Friday 7 September from 15:30 until 17:30 to show your support!

 

Mark Serwotka to speak in Stoke

PCS General Secretary Mark SERWOTKA is to speak in an important debate about the ‘alternative’ to the Government’s Austerity programme of cuts at the Potteries Museum Theatre on 09/10/12 (6:30pm).

The debate “A Fairer North Staffordshire – debating the alternative to cuts and privatisation” is being staged by PCS in conjunction with Keele UCU, the Stoke Branch of the National Pensioners Convention and the North Staffs Trades Union Council.

Other speakers at the event will include Dot GIBSON (National Pensioners Convention) and Roger SEIFERT (Professor of Industrial Relations at University of Wolverhampton).

For more details contact: PCS pcsdwp.nstaffs@btinternet.com or North Staffs Trades Council northstaffstuc@gmail.com