PCS Group Conference Unanimously supports Wick Wants Work

Just a brief note to share this photo and highlight the fact that the PCS Revenue & Customs Group Conference unanimously carried the Emergency Motion moved by Aberdeen & Inverness Branch below:



 "That this Group Conference expresses its great concern that, despite the absence of alternative work within Reasonable Daily Travel, HMRC chose, on the 9th of March, to announce their intention to vacate their premises in Wick, and offer Members there voluntary exits.

This Conference congratulates members in Wick on their resolve to fight for the retention of their jobs, and endorses the campaigning goals of the "Wick Wants Work" Campaign, as detailed at http://wickwantswork.blogspot.com.

Conference calls upon the Group Executive to continue to support members in Wick, and across Aberdeen & Inverness Branch as they fight to keep jobs in Caithness, and instructs the GEC negotiators to leave no avenue unexplored in their attempts to ensure that agreements are honoured and alternative work found.

In commending the campaign, and the efforts of the GEC thus far in support of these members, Conference makes clear its forthright opposition to any suggestion of unwanted compulsory redundancy, and instructs the GEC to, should this be mooted by the Official Side at any point, both to convene immediately to consider the strongest Group response possible and to refer the matter to the National Executive Committee for their consideration of a National response.

Conference furthermore takes this opportunity to ask Delegates, Trainees, Observers, Guest Speakers and members of the GEC and VOAC to dig deep in their pockets in support of the Group Hardship Fund, buy a "Wick Wants Work!" Badge and have their photograph taken wearing it in support of the campaign."

Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, we didn't get the badges done, but the paragraph before was the important one, and Conference Unanimously supported the motion as moved by Mark Chapman, Branch President.

In other news, on Friday 13th May, Campaigners met with Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, to express concerns regarding the proposed closure of Wick Tax Office.

The meeting, which lasted approximately twenty minutes, hopefully ended well, with Danny Alexander expressing his support for the retrention of HMRC work in Wick in alternative, cheaper premises, and agreeing to wreite to Lesley Strathie setting out his support for such.

Wick Wants Work statement on Caithness, Sutherland & Ross Election

Follwing the announcement yesterday of the Election to Holyrood of Rob Gibson as the constituency MSP for Caithness, Sutherland & Ross, the Wick Wants Work Campaign would like to extend our congratulations to Rob, who, as a major plank in an excellent campaign, made his support both for the 20 staff in Wick HMRC, and the wider Wick Wants Work campaign, very public, and raised the profile of both considerably, for which we are very grateful.

Rob Gibson, the new Member of the Scottish Parliament for Caithness, Sutherland & Ross,  pictured alongside the other candidates at the recent "Wick Wants Work" Hustings in Wick Assembly Rooms

The other candidates in the election, John Mackay, Edward Mountain and Robbie Rowantree, were also vocal in their support, and we commend each one of them on fighting good, clean campaigns in the purest of spirits.  We hope their support for the campaign will continue as active citizens, councillors and members of the community, and we wish them well.


The Holyrood elections have done much to focus minds on the Caithness economy, and we cannot let the increased profile of the campaign diminish.  The unprecedented result, both in terms of a massive swing in the Caithness, Sutherland & Ross constituency and across Scotland as a whole, reflect a strong tide of public opinion in Scotland against the Westminster coalition Government and its austerity measures, and across Scotland, SNP candidates made clear their support for a Tax Justice agenda that would ensure fairness for all, and for a growth based strategy to tackle the economic downturn.


Keeping the Wick Tax Office open, and investing in sustainable jobs in Caithness, would contribute to both of these goals, and we will shortly be writing to Rob and the First Minister, Alex Salmond, who was also a vocal supporter of the Campaign, highlighting this and asking them to outline how they intend to help progress the Campaign's goals.