Sarah Jones
07810 375389
foster.jones@btinternet.com

A get together of PCS Proud members in Scotland will take place on
Friday 14th March from 6pm
at the
Glasgow LGBT Centre, 84 Bell Street, G1 1LQ
www.glgbt.org.uk/
All Proud members welcome
Meet in the bar area

A message from Sarah Jones September 2007 (1)
Dear PCS Proud member/contact

Hello. I’m the new PCS Proud representative for Scotland.

Before I say a bit about me, I’d like to ask you to do TWO things as soon as you can please:

First, if you haven’t already done so, please re-apply for PCS Proud membership (it’s free) using the form here... You can join as a full or associate member. Please send your application form to PCS HQ - as explained on the website. This is because PCS Proud needs to update its membership records.

Second, if you want to receive regular e-mail updates from me, please send me a message to foster.jones@btinternet.com and let me have an e-mail address that you would be happy for me to use for PCS Proud messages. I’ll also ask for news to be posted on the PCS Proud website on the Scotland page. I would like to avoid too many hard copy mailings – mainly because of an out-of-date contact list and because it’s a waste of paper and postage!

Thank you.

About me

I’m very pleased to have been elected PCS Proud for Scotland. This is the first time I’ve held this post within the Union – although I’ve held many other posts including a term as PCS National Vice President. In fact, I first got involved with Proud when I was on the National Committee as NEC Liaison Officer a few years ago.

As Secretary and Chair of the PCS Branch and the Trade Union Side in the Health and Safety Executive for many years, I led negotiation on pay, terms and conditions for about 4,500 staff working with Prospect and FDA (the other two unions in HSE). I’ve always put equality at the heart of my approach and I hope this makes me reasonably well-qualified to take up issues on your behalf.

I live in Glasgow with my Civil Partner Karen – just down the road from the new Glasgow LGBT Centre (a good place for a drink if you’re in town). And I work in Glasgow too – I’m currently on secondment from HSE to the Scottish Government working on health and safety policy.

Despite some great leaps forward in legal terms, I think the LGBT community still suffers unacceptable attitudes – some of it a legacy of the nasty fight over the repeal of Section 2A in Scotland. The religious lobby –currently raising objections to gay adoption – seems stronger in Scotland then elsewhere.

So there’s a continuing need to counter reactionary and homophobic voices and the Trade Union movement has a strong role to play in tackling fundamentalism across the whole of the UK.

You can contact me on foster.jones@btinternet.com and mobile number 07810 375389 on any LGBT- related issue.

About you

So far, as well as writing to you, I’ve notified my details to all the LGBT organisations and networks in Scotland as well as the Scottish TUC. This should allow me to participate in LGBT events and debates from the PCS Union perspective.

I’ll aim to consult you and keep you up-to-date, but please let me know if you’re involved in anything or you’d like me to raise something up the agenda in Scotland or via the PCS Proud National Committee which next meets on 27th September.

I’d especially like to get a perspective on what life is like for PCS LGBT members outside Scotland’s central belt. It may be fine for my partner and me to express affection on the streets of Glasgow and to be open about our relationship in city centre workplaces. But is it the same in the Highlands and Islands?

So please do get in touch and let me know what you would like to do. I’m happy to arrange meetings and get-togethers, and I’d be really interested to hear about what’s going on in your Branches and workplaces.

Bye for now,

Sarah