http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7129957.stm

 

 

Police to receive 2.5% pay award

 

Officers' groups say they are getting a pay award lower than inflation

The home secretary has announced that police officers in England and Wales will receive a 2.5% pay rise.

The increase is backdated to 1 December and will see all officers paid a minimum of £21,500, while those with the longest service receiving £33,800.

 

Officers' groups are angry the award was not backdated to September, unlike in Scotland.

 

The Police Federation is considering balloting its members to bring back the right to strike.

 

It says that the pay award will effectively be only 1.9% because the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith had written to the chancellor asking for his support not to backdate the rise to September.

 

Pay boost for Scots police

 

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's World at One programme, Ms Smith said: "We've been through a process of arbitration.

 

"The arbitration board recommended an award of 2.5 per cent which we have accepted.

 

"But I have staged it so that instead of coming into operation on the first of September it comes into operation on the first of December".

 

Ms Smith added that the pay award would be "just under 2%" keeping it in line with the government's target for inflation.

 

The Police Superintendent's Association spokesman Ch Supt Patrick Stayt said its members felt let down and angry by the government's decision.

 

"The award by the Police Arbitration Tribunal should have been implemented in full and in the way they recommended. "

 

'Emergency meeting'

 

The Scottish Government has confirmed that it will go ahead with the 2.5% rise, backdated to September.

 

Earlier this year nurses in Scotland were granted their pay rise in full. That too was ahead of colleagues south of the border, who received their pay rises in stages.

 

The Police Federation of England and Wales said officers would receive a lower-than-inflation pay award.

 

Jan Berry, the federation's chairman, said: "This is contemptuous behaviour by the home secretary and has rightly angered the 140,000 police officers in England and Wales who have been waiting patiently for their pay award since 1 September."

 

 

She added that a "number of officers" were saying they should have the "right to take industrial action".

 

The federation is calling for an emergency meeting of its leaders in London next week.

 

"Police officers should either have full industrial rights or independent binding arbitration - currently we have neither," Ms Berry said.

 

The Association of Police Authorities (APA) and the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) have also expressed disappointment at the alleged contents of the letter.

 

Phil Blundell, vice-chairman of the APA, said: "The APA welcomed the recommendation from the Police Arbitration Tribunal last week and believes that the 2.5% police pay award should be implemented in full from 1 September.

 

"We are extremely disappointed that the home secretary has decided to stage the award."

 

 

 

 

 

What do you think? Should the police have the right to strike like any other worker (except the army of course)?

 

Wonder what would happen if they did strike? Who is going to arrest them for breaking the law? :lol:

Absolutely no circumstances whatsoever should the police be allowed to strike

 

Why are they different from the fire brigade though? :unsure:

 

(Just playing devil's advocate)

The fire brigade "just" put out fires, the police strike it would be absolute anarchy on the streets, a complete crime and terrorism free for all

I think The Police have the right to strike... Allthough it should never happen.

i was thinking about this after yesterdays news....

 

but simply... no.

 

they cant have a job then moan about it! they knew what the job entails, if they dont like it... leave. simple as.

 

i do think though that if the government agreed a pay rise with them from a specific date, they should honour it.

i do think though that if the government agreed a pay rise with them from a specific date, they should honour it.

 

Then if they haven't honoured the deal, the officers should be allowed to strike, albeit with certain restrictions, at the end of the day if a worker of any sort is getting a raw deal, then they have the basic human right to withdraw their labour and refuse to co-operate.. People like you and Craig seem to thing that the workers of this country should just "like it or lump it", sorry, but to me that is utterly the wrong attitude and the reason why we have such p***-poor pay and conditions for the majority of workers in this country, unnacceptable in this day and age IMO, compared to the rest of Europe we're in the dark ages. Things have gone too far in favour of the bosses under the changes Thatcher brought in, time to redress the balance at least half of the way....

 

Workers like my great grandfather had the guts to fight for their rights and founded the Labour Movement, time there was modern, 21st Century Worker's Movement, because the majority of workers out there have practically no representation at all, and few are members of trade unions....

they cant have a job then moan about it! they knew what the job entails, if they dont like it... leave. simple as.

 

Well, as I understand it, it aint the job or the duties it entails they're "moaning" about, just being screwed over as far as renumeration goes..... It's supposed to be a National police force, how can one lot in one area of the country get a better deal than the others...? Asking for trouble that is....

 

And 2.5%??? Laughable..... It's lower than inflation and effectively worthless, after taxation they'll actually have less money in their pockets. Why should any worker tolerate that insult...?

 

The police are the most essential employees in this country, police go on strike the country would descend into anarchy and more than likely grind to a complete halt

 

No emergency services should be allowed to strike - police, fire, ambulance, military, nurses, doctors and so on, it should be written into their contracts that they are not allowed to strike, not because they deserve to be exploited but because the security and safety of this country depends on them

 

Police are well paid comparitively - a pc in London will get in the region of £28k a year and a sergeant up to around £40k a year and the police also offer subsidised housing for officers too so policemen are pretty well paid, well more than any of the other essential services

 

The police go on strike it would be the biggest ever green light for Al Qaeda

The police go on strike it would be the biggest ever green light for Al Qaeda

 

Well, the Govt should bear that in mind and stop messing them about then..... <_<

 

And, like I say, it doesn't matter if it IS 40K a year, if a pay rise is lower than the rate of inflation and interest rates, it's essentially meaningless in real terms, whatever the actual amount of pay is, simple economics mate... The police do a dangerous job, are you honestly trying to tell me that they aint worth a decent pay rise...? Shame on you if you say no....

Of course they are as are all the other professions that I listed above, all of them deserve good money as all do a dangerous and essential job but they should still not be allowed to strike

 

Anyone who is joining these professions joins them not because of the money but because they want to serve the public and do a public duty, a nurse for instance would earn a lot more money as a PA or secretary in some office but they go through years of training because they want to serve the public and help people so anyone joining these professions should do so out of public duty not out of financial gain and going on strike merely harms the public that they joined these professions to serve.

 

Should they be paid more ? absolutely, should they be allowed to strike ? no

Of course they are as are all the other professions that I listed above, all of them deserve good money as all do a dangerous and essential job but they should still not be allowed to strike

 

Anyone who is joining these professions joins them not because of the money but because they want to serve the public and do a public duty, a nurse for instance would earn a lot more money as a PA or secretary in some office but they go through years of training because they want to serve the public and help people so anyone joining these professions should do so out of public duty not out of financial gain and going on strike merely harms the public that they joined these professions to serve.

 

Should they be paid more ? absolutely, should they be allowed to strike ? no

 

i agree ^_^

Then if they haven't honoured the deal, the officers should be allowed to strike, albeit with certain restrictions, at the end of the day if a worker of any sort is getting a raw deal, then they have the basic human right to withdraw their labour and refuse to co-operate.. People like you and Craig seem to thing that the workers of this country should just "like it or lump it", sorry, but to me that is utterly the wrong attitude and the reason why we have such p***-poor pay and conditions for the majority of workers in this country, unnacceptable in this day and age IMO, compared to the rest of Europe we're in the dark ages. Things have gone too far in favour of the bosses under the changes Thatcher brought in, time to redress the balance at least half of the way....

 

Workers like my great grandfather had the guts to fight for their rights and founded the Labour Movement, time there was modern, 21st Century Worker's Movement, because the majority of workers out there have practically no representation at all, and few are members of trade unions....

 

no not strike, but dont do some other clerical work instead...

Anyone who is joining these professions joins them not because of the money but because they want to serve the public and do a public duty

 

Oh come on mate, they're not bloody charity workers you know.... Sure, they want to do the job to help the public, but that does not mean to say they should be willing to put up with having the p*** utterly taken out of them.... I think it damages the service a lot more for the Govt to mess them around and people being less likely to want to work for these services. If they cant recruit people, what then...? In case you hadn't noticed NHS nursing in the UK is in an utter crisis because of bad pay and conditions, nurses are leaving the NHS in THEIR DROVES, preferring to work in Private Nursing which has far better pay and conditions - many Trusts have to take nurses from abroad to plug the gaps.... Armed Forces recruitment has been in a slump since the Iraq war as well....

 

If we start messing around the Police force to the extent that that we are, then I can forsee a similar recruitment/retention crisis developing here... The Govt messes around with the police at their (and ultimately our..) peril. You cant exactly second police recruits from the Phillipines, India or Bangladesh to "make up the numbers" can you....?

That would be a disaster! :huh: I can't stand when people complain about pay, when they what the pay was when they took the job.

 

PS. Is that all they get paid? :blink:

You cant exactly second police recruits from the Phillipines, India or Bangladesh to "make up the numbers" can you....?

 

try poland! :P

 

them buggers will do it for half the wage...:lol:

That would be a disaster! :huh: I can't stand when people complain about pay, when they what the pay was when they took the job.

 

*GROAN* You're really just NOT getting what they're actually objecting to at all are you (despite it being pretty clearly defined within the original post)...? They are objecting to a BELOW INFLATION RATE pay rise and the fact that officers in Scotland are getting the rise backdated whereas those in England and Wales are not... Why should anyone expect to be shafted in this manner when they do agree to take the job...? The fact that the rank and file officers are so pissed off that they are even seriouisly threatening to strike for the first time in the history of the force should actually be telling you something..... ie, that something is VERY fukked up.....

try poland! :P

 

them buggers will do it for half the wage...:lol:

 

Slightly flippant remark to what was an important point I was trying to make Rob.... -_-

 

How would coppers from Poland be able to do it either...? They wouldn't have any kind of working knowledge of UK laws and procedures any more than a brit copper would have of Polish laws and regs....

I doubt if the public or media would accept a general strike by the police, no matter the justiification of their cause. Even if they had a controlled rolling strike, the first incident which endangered the public in any way would lose them all support. The government knows this and takes advantage of their difficult position.

 

I sympathise with their case - if they were awarded 2.5%, then that's what they should receive. If the government wants to stage the award, the total basic salary paid over the period covered by the claim should still be the same for each officer on a particular payscale, even if they have to have the difference in the form of additional bonus payments over a couple of months eg December/ January.

 

I support the right of the Scottish Executive to pay up without whimpering for key public service employees like nurses and police. Doesn't the Welsh Assembly have similar powers?

 

Sadly, if there was a devolved English parliament tomorrow, I'm pretty certain they'd do what they liked, no matter what the other 3 smaller Home Nations decided.

 

I absolutely deplore the feet dragging and miserliness of successive UK governments over many decades.

Edited December 10, 200717 yr by Baytree