PCS: The comrades fallout continues

One of the major problems that has led to the decline of the largest civil service trade union PCS was the hijacking of it's apparatus by the far-left. They forced through a policy of changing the role of PCS from being a "Representative Union" (i.e. looking after what the members themselves want to being an "activist led union which meant PCS has for years operated on the basis of what the left wanted to achieve regardless of it's members wishes.

In many ways under the current General Secretary Mark Serwotka in conjunction with the Socialist Party and the Socialist Workers Party the far left substituted itself for the members and created a very vanguardist union. Variously Serwotka and his supporters took PCS to promoting Respect and George Galloway and when that failed after the fallout between the gorgeous one and the SWP the General Secretary then threw his weight behind the Socialist Party's ill-fated Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.

The TUSC was an abject failure and became irrelevant after the rise of Corbynism which coincided with a split between Serwotka and the Socialist Party (Militant) The squabbling between the two over the prime Assistant General Secretary Post saw both Serwotka's nominee and the SP candidate lose to a third left-wing  candidate a member of the Independent Left and Alliance for Workers Liberty.

Now the battles continue as Serotka seeks reelection facing opposition from the Socialist Party in the form of Marion Lloyd and Bev Laidlaw of the Independent Left. However a new dispute between the two allies has arisen over the question of backing the Labour Party without the consent of it's actual membership.

Considering that pushing the interests and affiliations of the far-left using the unions resources and funds is part of the course in PCS . Every tin-pot cause that comes along appears on the unions conference agenda that few members take notice of or participate in the decision making process. Under the Serwotka, the Socialist Party and those that left the the SP are all responsible along with others for this state of affairs yet despite surreptitiously using the union to back the TUSC and it's trade union equivalent the National Shop Stewards Movement (NSSN) the Socialist Party suddenly complain:

Last week's decision by the leadership of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union to recommend to members in England and Wales that they vote for all Labour candidates without qualification in a future general election could prove to be a damaging mistake, coming hard on the heels of further moves against Jeremy Corbyn by the right-wing Blairites at this week's Labour Party conference.

The move to uncritical support for Labour candidates was pushed by general secretary Mark Serwotka, on the grounds that there could be a general election before the end of the year....

Our union has always said that we are not politically neutral, because we fight austerity, we fight for jobs, for universal social security nets, for the tax loopholes exploited by the billionaires to be closed - and for well-paid jobs for our members, to implement this pro-worker agenda. But we are politically independent.

That independence has been cast away in favour of wholesale endorsement of Labour in England and Wales, which has been done without levying a single demand or a single condition on any of the hundreds of parliamentary candidates we will now potentially be supporting.

Total hypocrisy given their previous antics. All of the above is as because their TUSC  project will be finally finished off for the farce that it always was.

The Serwotka supporting left also somewhat hypocritically claim this is all down to sectarianism in a statement issued by Gordon Rowntree the Left Unity National organiser:

Contrary to claims by the SP the NEC did not decide a new political strategy nor pre-empt the current consultation but instead agreed on how to implement current policy and put in place arrangements to secure a UK wide Corbyn-led government, with due regard to differing political circumstances in the devolved areas - precisely as agreed by ADC. Had the NEC not met to decide on how ADC policy should be carried out then the PCS general election campaign would have been severely disadvantaged and under-prepared.

Note that the reference is to the ADC (Conference) which means delegates or activists made a decision on behalf of members without asking them. Few PCS members would be aware of these antics as the conference booklets are huge unreadable tomes for non-activists. Attendance at Mandating meetings is minute.

Members will of course vote for a variety of political parties from left to right. There may be some who will vote Labour but many will vote for the Tories, Liberals and the Brexit Party let alone the SNP in Scotland.

It's no wonder the union has declined in size regardless of cuts as members simply gave up on all this nonsense and most simply remain for an insurance policy should they need representation. PCS long ago gave up fighting for it's members to pursue a political agenda on behalf of it's far-left activists.