And don't let us catch you smiling!

AS the government attacks people's rights and benefits, as well as the jobs and pensions of the state's own servants, it is treating frontline staff worse, with bullying and overwork, and hoping they will take this out on clients and service users.

Fortunately there is resistance.

A report from the Public and Commercial Service union, PCS gives an insight into what is happening behind the department doors. It says:

Managers in government call centres have been taking down union posters that expose the brutal way workers are told to treat people on benefits.

Bosses in the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) said the notices were offensive and an incitement to take industrial action.

The PCS posters were on union noticeboards and highlight the real experiences of workers in DWP call centres – including one who was told off for wishing an unemployed person "good luck".

They also refer to the number of callers who threaten suicide because of cuts to disability benefits.

Industrial action is not mentioned.

Follow this link to see the posters they tried to ban

The PCS posters were a response to an insensitive management propaganda campaign aimed at people who take time off sick.

Fran Heathcote, president of the PCS DWP group, said. “This is as an attack on the union’s independence. The posters are no different in content to those we've used before and we can see no justification for them being banned."

See the banned posters

PCS in the Department for Work and Pensions

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