BEIS Support Staff strikes: 8 – 10
April 2019
BEIS stands for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial
Strategy. We are a Whitehall Department and our workers are outsourced to
contractors and on poverty wages. BEIS is the Department responsible for
workers rights and the minimum wage - and allegedly climate change (not that
you'd know it) - so it's really disgraceful that our Secretary of State (Greg
Clark) refuses to pay his workers a liveable wage.
So here are all the details about the strikes and their location (they
will be outside BEIS HQ - 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET). I also attach a
document I put together for people that explains the different ways activists
can show solidarity and a template letter people could use to write to their
MPs.
It would be amazing to have Green Party activists come and show support
on the picket lines on Monday or Wednesday.
In solidarity,
Kate
Branch Secretary for the BEIS London and South PCS Union
BEIS Support Staff strikes: 8 – 10 April 2019
How you can show solidarity
1. Come and visit our picket lines:
- Monday 8 April, 07:00am – 10:00am, Aramark
(catering) staff walk out in strike for the start of a 72 hour stoppage.
· Picket lines start outside BEIS, 1
Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET (nearest tube lines: Victoria, Westminster or
St James’s Park) – The aim is to catch civil servants as they begin work
(the theme will be “Let them Eat Cake, huh,
Greg”). Speeches from visitors and strikers will start around
08:15am and there will be music, dancing and plenty of noise.
- Wednesday 10 April, picket lines between 12:00 – 14:00 with
a “Caribbean cookout” theme.
We’re planning on having music, speeches and fun. But we will also be
serving yummy Caribbean food for free (donations welcomed) to highlight
how our catering staff are treated. We’ll also be joined by the General
Secretary of PCS Union, Mark Serwotka.
- The strikes will then end at 06:59am on
Thursday 11 April (shifts start at 07:00am).
2. Donate to the strike fund:
Donations are welcomed and should be
made into the following Crowdfunder: https://uk.gofundme.com/beis-pcs-hardship-fund
3. Boycott the canteen and coffeeshops
· We are asking everyone to not use or
buy anything from the canteen or coffeeshops on strike days. This is to
demonstrate solidarty and ensure that disruption is caused to BEIS and Aramark,
given they refuse to engage with the reasonable demands of our members.
4. Take a solidarity pic:
Be creative and send us a solidarity
picture showing your support. Ideally these would be sent on social media and
use the following hashtags and tags:
@GregClarkMP
@Aramark
@beisgovuk
#LoveUnions
#BEISStrike
#PovertyPay
5. Share, Retweet and like our page and
event to publicise the strikes:
6. Write to your MP and ask them to
support the strikers demands:
· Here is a suggested template letter:
Dear XXX,
[INSERT YOUR
ADDRESS]
First, just to
introduce myself, my name is XXX and
I am a constituent of yours, PCS Union member and civil servant working in the
Department XXX.
I wanted to raise
to your attention an industrial dispute at the Department for Business, Energy
and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). You may be aware but back in 2014 (when BEIS
where the former Department of Energy and Climate Change and based in 3
Whitehall Place - now housing the Department for International Trade) trade
unionist fought and won the London Living Wage (LLW) (as set by the Living Wage
Foundation) for all their support staff. When the machinery of Government
changes took place, the Trade Unions discussed with the Permanent Secretary,
Alex Chisholm, about ensuring that before staff moved into BIS's offices on 1
Victoria Street that all support staff there were also paid the LLW and we have
proper discussions about their terms and conditions as a whole and future
in-housing. At the time he seemed receptive.
The Department then
went away, and they did confirm that the LLW was both affordable and doable
(i.e. Cabinet Office wouldn't stop them). But since then the Union has only had
delays and intransigence. Support staff at BEIS are completely fed and up,
demoralised and struggling to feed their families. For example, their security
colleagues must work a minimum of 60 hours a week to make ends meet, that's
while be on the front line of keeping a major Whitehall Department safe.
The support staff,
members of PCS Union at BEIS, have now been forced to undertake industrial
action due to the Department, and the Secretary of State, Greg Clark’s,
indifference. The Union has consistently demonstrated that it is cheaper to
bring these workers back in-house, on proper wages and terms and conditions,
and it also would ensure BEIS was truly a diverse, inclusive and appreciative
Department of all its staff’s contributions – whether you clean the desks or
are a XXXX like me.
Civil servants and
staff feel strongly about this and I am writing to you to ask you to support
our campaign and lend your voice in calling for BEIS to end this injustice.
BEIS should be setting an example to businesses and society, not woefully
lagging, and I hope you’ll agree the current situation is shameful.
I look forward to
hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
XXX
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