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‘People feel enough is enough and they want to do something’
Matt Trinder talks to FRAN HEATHCOTE, president of Britain’s biggest civil servants’ union, ahead of its annual conference in Brighton

“THE media sometimes portrays civil servants as overpaid bowler-hatted bureaucrats, but we are working people doing a very difficult job — often not a very popular one — implementing government policy, but we try to do a good job and treat people with respect.”

Fran Heathcote, president of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, is busy preparing for the union’s three-day 2023 conference in Brighton, which kicks off today.

It’s been quite a year since the union’s last annual meet-up. A national dispute with the Tory government over several issues, including pensions, job security and redundancy terms, has grown increasingly bitter.  

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