My old pals in the civil service will no doubt be fascinated to learn the results of the PCS annual National Executive Committee elections. Here they are:
- The hard left
- The hard left
- The hard left
- Er…
- That’s it
Let’s break down the stats:
Number of eligible voters 170,395
Votes cast by post: 12,736
Total number of votes cast: 12,736
Turnout: 7.5%
I am no mathematical genius but a cursory glance suggests that 92.5% of members chose not to vote. You could put this down to voter apathy or you could probably be onto something. Perhaps PCS members, who are regarded by many activists as no more than voting fodder, understand fully that it doesn’t matter which of the hard left ‘slates’ wins the elections because nothing will change. It never does.
Actually, I have been slightly economical with the truth because there were two candidates on the NEC ballot paper who were not on any of the three hard left slates. Sadly for them, because none of the political groupings urged members to vote for them, they occupied the bottom two slots in the election results list.
My advice in PCS elections these days is simple: don’t vote because it only encourages them. I doubt that 158,000 members have taken my advice since almost all of them have no idea who I am, never mind being avid readers of this minor blog, but I think it’s fair to say that as a union, PCS is now largely irrelevant not just to a hostile government but almost all its members.
You might have thought from reading the election addresses that PCS members were largely Jeremy Corbyn supporters or even far to the left of him. That hardly anyone voted, suggests they aren’t, but what do mere members matter when Trotskyite groups can achieve what really matters to them: seats on the NEC? Nothing else matters to the comrades and it never did.
