Mary Ferguson NEC Election Address 2007

My Experience
Member of the PCS National Executive Committee since 2003. I am currently Chair of my Branch and of the PCS Northern Region. I am also a member of the DWP Pension and Regional Committees. In my own branch, I continue to be involved with an increased load of personal cases, local negotiations and recruitment.

Privatisation
The biggest threat to Civil Service and public sector jobs is the Government’s continuing privatisation agenda. This Government has already taken more jobs and services out of the public sector than the previous Conservative administration. By uniting with other Unions and users of public services, a campaign must be mounted to defend against the threats of further privatisation. In the North East, I am actively involved with various campaigns to join other unions in this cause.

PCS must be at the forefront of explaining to the public why privatisation worsens services and wastes taxpayers’ money. PCS must also ensure that members whose jobs are privatised are given a real chance to remain within the civil service.

Pay
Together with privatisation, our priority in the coming year must be about delivering decent pay rises to members. I fully support the campaign for national pay that PCS has begun. It is plain wrong that civil service pay rates are amongst the lowest in the public sector. Equally, artificial departmental pay differences make no sense and prevent members moving jobs.

Cuts
The cuts programme is totally unjustifiable, causing misery and chaos. It is destroying jobs and services, causing massive increases in workloads, leading to more absences due to the heightening in stress levels. We must continue to fight against these swingeing cuts.
Unity is Strength

As a member of PCS Democrats - www.pcsdemocrats.org.uk - I stand by the democratic principles of trade unionism. The NEC has been successful in turning PCS into a strong, membership-led, campaigning union. In the interests of unity, I ask for your support and for you to support the continuation of the good work already done.

Vote for Democracy Alliance candidates in this election:

President – Godrich
Vice Presidents – Bean, Bond, Kelly, Morris
NEC – Albert, Baker, Brown A, Brown P, Chorlton, Comer, Conway, Dennis, Dunn, Ferguson, Gedling, Holbourne, Jamieson, John, License, Lloyd, McFadden, McHugh, McInally, Morrison, Reid, Richards, Steeples, Taylor, Wesley, Williams P, Williams R, Williamson, Winder, Yesildalli.