HOGMANAY, the last day of 2024, gives me the opportunity to reflect on the year gone by for my union, the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), and also our class, our struggles and achievements at home and internationally.  

As I approach my 60th year, I also take time for personal reflection back over 40 or so years of activism — as a 14-year-old joining Scottish CND, as a further education college student activist, as a lifelong Labour and trade union movement activist, through the campaign for devolution, voluntary work for refugees, in the Scottish TUC and as a long-serving officer in the PCS.

This column however covers just a few key matters that stand out for me in 2024.

End of an era – start of a new one

January 2024 saw the retirement of PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka after 24 years. A fantastic comrade on the left and brilliant boss and mentor to me and many others, Mark led our union defiantly through New Labour and Tory austerity cuts, against threats by Tory Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude to our union’s very existence, by removing the right to payroll deduction of trade union dues from Civil Service employers.  

More recently, Mark oversaw the tremendous pushback campaign in which we challenged the government’s small boats policy and Rwanda deportation scheme, initiated by Border Force union members who were witnessing inhumanity.  

Mark championed an alternative vision of the Civil Service, brought forward devolution of policy-making to the union in Scotland and Wales and led our support (as a non-affiliated union) for Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party.

Fran Heathcote became the first female general secretary of PCS in February. She has already built a reputation across the movement as a grafter, a driven supporter of Palestinian rights and someone who stands on picket lines and at protests with our members and with wider labour movement causes. 

40th anniversaries

In February we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the return of trade union rights to workers at GCHQ, including a commemorative march through Cheltenham. 

It was an honour to meet veterans and their families who refused to give up their trade union membership, at the expense of their jobs and careers. They will never be forgotten and will always be celebrated.

We are also in the midst of the 40th anniversary of the 1984-85 miners’ strike, which played a massive role in the political development of my generation. I have a lot to thank Edinburgh Trades Council for in encouraging young activists such as myself to collect food, hand out leaflets, visit picket lines and build support for the miners.

Election of a Labour government

This year, a new Labour government was elected. Of course it is a relief to be rid of the Tories, but the 2024 election is the most disproportional in British electoral history. That public support for electoral reform is now at its highest is to be celebrated.

While they are not the Tories, neither is Keir Starmer’s government committed to the Corbyn manifesto that many across our movement sought.  

The pre-Christmas disappointment for the Waspi women is a case in point, and one that seeks to once again split the Scottish Labour Party from their UK counterparts. 

We need to hold Labour to account on public services, jobs and pay, and remind them of the class interests of the workers who put them in power, rather than the capitalist interests that bribed them with designer clothes and now seek entry into running public services as tech start-ups.

While unions, including PCS, now have a higher level of engagement with the government, there were several attacks before Christmas from Starmer and Pat McFadden that betrayed a lack of Christmas spirit — with a continuation of the Tory blame culture on civil servants, suggesting a Trumpian-style role for tech entrepreneurs to run public services better, a cut to 10,000 Civil Service jobs and then a Christmas gift of predicting a mere 2.8 per cent pay limit in 2025 after years of below-inflation pay.

The downturn in SNP support at the general election as the party fell into crisis saw Chris Stephens lose his seat in Glasgow South West. He was chair of the PCS parliamentary group from 2015 until this year and PCS misses Chris and all he did for our union in Parliament. We have returned the now independent MP John McDonnell as our chair, whom Chris replaced while John served as shadow chancellor in the Corbyn era.

Industrial action builds union power

There have been many PCS members on strike throughout 2024. We have ongoing disputes with outsourced companies employing security and catering staff on very low pay.  

In December we won a fantastic pay rise for our members in the Pensions Regulator who took sustained industrial action earlier this year. With the threat of 2.8 per cent pay across public services in 2025 we will no doubt be seeking co-ordination with other public-sector unions to fight for pay restoration.

Check-off victory

The most positive development of 2024 for PCS has been our stunning November 20 Supreme Court victory against government departments that withdrew check-off, he right for union subs to be deducted by payroll. 

We can never forget that when the Tories removed check-off a decade ago, they sought to remove our power. While PCS had tough years of rebuilding our membership and resources, we are now in a very strong and secure place to grow our members’ power with an ever-improving infrastructure and fantastic staff resources.

Palestine

Following the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on October 7 2023, the Palestinian people of Gaza and beyond have suffered what only can be described as genocide in retaliation. 

Al Jazeera reported just before Christmas that 1,139 people were killed in Israel and that the Palestinian death toll stood at 45,912 (17,492 of whom are children), with 11,000 people missing. There is nowhere near enough that each of us can do in solidarity with the Palestinian people in 2025, and we must never give up the call for an end of the genocide, peace, justice, equality and freedom for the Palestinian people.  

In addition to fighting for peace in the Middle East, my new year resolutions including countering the far right at home and abroad and continuing to do everything I can to build workers’ power. Happy new year to all Morning Star comrades. See you on the picket lines!

Lynn Henderson is chief of staff (operational) at PCS union and chairs the Jimmy Reid Foundation think tank. She is also chair of Politics for the Many and the Electoral Reform Society.