MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Moral rules and trade union principles
me and a big team involved as well. This is a sort of example of
assisting the culture. (Interviewee G)
But such values are not necessarily shared:-
They (activists) are viewed, I think, either as absolutely critical to
keep on board through to their being a waste of space and
having to work round them rather than with them. (On that
continuum) I would like to be in the middle but I suspect I am
rather nearer the end (Interviewee B).
There are two particular characteristics of PCS which require attention
in this context. The first is that there is a high number of stakeholder
groupings prescribed in or arising from the Rule Book. As with many
other unions, this includes groups set up with the intention of facilitating
the involvement of ‘disadvantaged’ groups, such as black members,
gay and lesbian members and women. It includes also occupational
groups and positive steps have been taken to involve them at various
levels. One manager describes how this works:-
We have a number of those covering a range of equal
opportunity type issues - ethnic minorities, women, disabled and
so on. But also on conditions of service issues, such as the
human resource agenda, pay policy and things like that we have
forums which bring together representatives from all the groups
within the union. We are fairly liberal and relaxed about who
comes to these. It's not something which is too tightly defined.
And then if you look at the regions, certainly in Wales, which I'm
responsible for, we've set up a Wales Committee which has
representatives from all the major Government departments
which have staff in Wales which meets about three times a year
to discuss matters of common interest, particularly the extent to
which those common interests can be progressed through the
Welsh Assembly. And we have a separate forum for
organisations which are either in the private sector or fringe
bodies which are distanced from the Government to some
extent. And that again meets about three times a year. We find
these are very useful opportunities for two way interchange from
the centre to the various organisations we have and back again.
And it's a reasonably effective way of making sure that people
who are key players at different levels of the union understand
what the union's trying to do and have an opportunity to
influence it. (Interviewee A)
Philosophically, one manager tries to explain the principles involved
here:-
You have identified (many small) bodies with elected people
running the organisation. That’s a lot isn’t it? And inside each of
those there’ll be separate groups that want servicing and
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