A high profile union is facing a major challenge to maintain its financial support after another government department announced plans to withdraw a system for collecting union subscriptions direct from salaries.
The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) said the move by HM Revenue and Customs to drop the so-called “check-off” system was fresh evidence of an increasingly anti-union approach in the civil service. The announcement follows similar moves by the Home Office and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Unions are concerned the Tories’ plans will increase the cost of collecting subscriptions and could lead to many lapsed memberships. It would force them to ask members to switch to direct debit, which is a lengthy and distracting process.
Francis Maude has been the driving force behind the change, and has been opposed by Lib Dem ministerial colleagues led by Danny Alexander.
A source close to Alexander said the Tories’ move to end check-off in HMRC makes “no sense”, particluarly since unions have offered to pick up any costs incurred. The Lib Dems are considering putting forward a motion to the party’s spring conference which will call for the system to be re-established if they form part of a future government.
The source said: “This is an ideologically driven decision and makes no sense when the system has worked well for years. Danny has opposed it and will continue to do so.”
A spokesperson for HMRC said the so-called check-off arrangement will stop at the end of April, adding:
“We are following a number of other government departments by changing how civil servants can pay their trade union subscriptions. “After extensive consultation with the trade unions, we no longer think it is appropriate to act as an intermediary for these payments. Unions have arranged for direct debits to deduct the payments.”
Check-off has been used for decades for collecting a union member’s subscription direct from a salary. The Home Office was the first major department to remove the check-off system from the end of 2014. The DWP have said they will end it on 31 March and now HMRC will follow them at the end of April.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “This is the greatest challenge our union has ever faced. We are clearly being attacked because we continue to oppose this government’s ideologically driven and damaging spending cuts.
“But we will not be silenced. We are determined to put trade union rights at the centre of the general election and we will still be going strong long after this crop of cabinet ministers have been booted from office.”
The PCS accused Conservative ministers of launching a “union-busting” campaign at the heart of the government by targeting the civil service.
“Their actions show how the Tories will attack union rights across the whole public sector if they form a government after the election,” said a PCS statement.
“Their actions also give the green light to employers to go on the offensive against unions across the UK.”
