PCS Union may call a ballot after MPs failed to keep distance from staff

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents clerks, security guards and kitchen staff in parliament, is threatening to recommend its membership take industrial action in response the failure of MPs to distance themselves from staff as some waited for more than an hour to cast their votes.

This is while ministers have come under increasing pressure to ditch the return to a physical parliament after weeks of allowing MPs to attend remotely via video link.

The government’s current arrangements were slammed following the business secretary, Alok Sharma, announcing that he was being tested for Covid-19 after appearing to be unwell while delivering a speech to the Commons. 

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Authorities at the House of Commons, it has been confirmed by government sources, are considering alternative methods of allowing MPs to vote that could speed up the voting process. 

The house commons was witness to much chaos of Tuesday as MPs waited in a long queue, twisting through parliament in an attempt to maintain physical distancing while voting on the motion, which has resulted in a series of complaints from members of the PCS union.

The absence of social distancing, or its blatant disregard, at and around the underground entrance to the Commons, where MPs were photographed standing less than a metre away from each other, was a major complaint put forth by one member of the union.

The source went on to say “It was a breeding ground for infection. Supermarkets have better Covid management in place.”

According to a security source quoted by The Guardian, the risk assessment shown to some staff showed that the parliamentary authorities lacked a method of controlling the number of people on the estate. “The risk assessment is only there to facilitate a poor decision by the government,” the source said. 

PCS has warned parliamentary officials that a failure to comply with five tests, could result in industrial action.

The five tests include a promise to track and trace those in contact with an infected person, regular Covid-19 tests for staff, and a pledge to carry out a Covid-19 risk assessment including an equality assessment to examine the impact on BAME workers.

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The union is especially concerned because more than a third of their members in parliament are BAME. People from ethnic minorities are at a higher risk of dying from coronavirus according to Public Health England. 

Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of PCS which claims to have around 800 members across the Palace of Westminster, said: “The decision to scrap the hybrid parliament has been a disaster.

 “We will support our members wholeheartedly if they decide to take action and the blame will squarely lie with Jacob Rees-Mogg.” 

MPs are due to debate a motion laid by the Commons leader, Rees-Mogg, on Thursday to allow those who are shielding and those aged over 70 to vote by proxy. 

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, said: “I don’t want to be premature because Alok, who I wish well and hope he recovers quickly, may well have had severe hay fever, we’re not sure yet.”

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MPs may abandon the system of filing through the chamber to cast their votes, which led to long queues, according to government sources.

One option being examined, it has been revealed, would be to let MPs swipe their security cards on a reader in the division lobbies, where they traditionally assemble.

The House of Commons has yet to comment on the matter.

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