Public pay: Now police call for right to strike

The Observer reported that rank and file police officers demanded that their right to strike be reinstated as relations with the government fell to a 30-year low. The move highlights mounting unrest in the public sector over pay as unions threaten an 'autumn of discontent' for Gordon Brown.

Last week the Prison Officers' Association (POA) staged a wildcat strike over pay and conditions and there are concerns in Whitehall that other key unions could follow suit. The Police Federation, with 140,000 members, the Fire Brigades Union and the prison officers' union are to meet to discuss a joint campaign to highlight grievances over what they say are below-inflation rises.

Police call for right to strike

Pressure on Brown rises as public service unions plan campaign to fight below-inflation pay offers

Jamie Doward, home affairs editor
Sunday September 2, 2007
The Observer

Rank and file police officers demanded last night that their right to strike be reinstated as relations with the government fell to a 30-year low. The move highlights mounting unrest in the public sector over pay as unions threaten an 'autumn of discontent' for Gordon Brown.

Last week the Prison Officers' Association (POA) staged a wildcat strike over pay and conditions and there are concerns in Whitehall that other key unions could follow suit. The Police Federation, with 140,000 members, the Fire Brigades Union and the prison officers' union are to meet to discuss a joint campaign to highlight grievances over what they say are below-inflation rises.

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'The public needs to be aware of how public sector workers who put their lives at risk are being treated,' said Brian Caton, general secretary of the POA. 'We will talk about the prospect of taking further industrial action.'

Last night the federation said its members wanted the right to take industrial action unless the Home Office agreed to a more favourable pay deal. 'You can only bite people so much before they want to bite back,' said Alan Gordon, the federation's vice-chairman.

The prospect of the police making public demands over the right to strike would be hugely embarrassing to the Prime Minister as the government tries to convince the public it is winning the war on crime. It would further damage the service when officers are leaving 'in droves', said the federation.

The Association of Chief Police Officers and the Police Superintendents' Association are also angry at the decision to stop using a 30-year-old formula that governed annual pay settlements until last year. The government is offering a rise of 2.3 per cent. Officers have put in a counterclaim for 3.94 per cent, in line with the private sector. Both sides will go to arbitration in October, but the government insists that public sector restraint is vital to keep inflation in check.

Police officers are banned from taking strike action or even discussing it. However, this year the rank and file voted overwhelmingly to explore the option of lobbying for full industrial rights if their claims were not met. 'The feedback from our members is that we are rapidly approaching the situation where they want to bite back,' Gordon said. 'If we are to be treated no differently from other public sector workers, we need to explore whether we should have the same rights as other public sector workers.'

The federation said it was dismayed that the Home Office had abandoned the pay formula when police were being asked to tackle the increasing threat of terrorism, a rise in antisocial behaviour and events such as the recent floods and the foot and mouth outbreak. 'The government keep telling us how much we are valued and at the same time are making arrangements that would result in police taking a pay cut,' Gordon said. 'The mood among our members is one of anger.'

The Police Superintendents' Association, which has some 1,600 members across England and Wales, has stopped short of endorsing the federation's position, but warned that ministers had to come up with a suitable pay formula.