Will the Police go on strike....?

[Corsair7]

Huge job cuts
Overtime bans
Perks cut right back
Pay freezes
etc


Will the Police eventually say 'enough' and go on strike? Even 'work to rule' would crippple most Police activities.

Striking may well be illegal for the Police, but if the law enforcers are on strike, does such a law become irrelevant?

I cant help but think of the parrallels with the armed forces - making cut backs when we seem to be needing them most. Surely, if the country slides ever more into desperation due to economic and employment woes, we'll need a Police force thats got high morale and motivation even more than we do currently.....?

[kelk]

aving spoken to a policeman on Saturday I think a strike may not happen - but a national day of sickness within the Police force, which wouldn't be illegal (by his understanding) could well occur.

[V88Dicky]

There's no reason why the police shouldn't be on the same pay scales as HM Forces, and have similar 'perks'.

Performance related bonuses?

WTF are they all about?


No-one in the public sector should be receiving bonuses like that.

[Prof Prolapse]

I'd wager if the public sector did have bonuses then productivity would be up.

How else do you keep people in menial jobs motivated?

Also, if you don't offer a pay comparitive with industry, which (contrary to popular belief) the public sector rarely does, how do you retain good staff?

Genuine questions.

[Mojocvh]

V88Dicky said:

There's no reason why the police shouldn't be on the same pay scales as HM Forces, and have similar 'perks'.

Performance related bonuses?

WTF are they all about?


No-one in the public sector should be receiving bonuses like that.

What like HMRC?

[gtdc]

I thought the guys actually doing the anti social hours/stty/dangerous jobs are getting a rise and those who are office bound aren't getting extra allowances any more.

Can't see the proper plods minding that. Can see the comittee going suits minding it a lot though.

[V88Dicky]

Prof Prolapse said:

I'd wager if the public sector did have bonuses then productivity would be up.

And what, pray tell, does the public sector actually produce?

[V88Dicky]

Prof Prolapse said:

How else do you keep people in menial jobs motivated?

I don't think you could call policing any more menial than any other job. Far from it infact.

[Derek Smith]

There has been considerable 'work to rule' over the years, some of it apparently very effective. there were reports of threats to bin various 'tickets, such as driving permits, firearms, PSU, that sort of thing. Every time the government/Home Office has backed down.

There could be a change though. If the suggestion that the force would ignore the federation and do things without regard to negotiated agreements then things could change. Some time ago there were legal approaches to the ECHR with regards to freedom of association and it seems that the goernment's stand, that of it being dangerous to have a unionised police force, had little legal support. So the police could unionise. They could have the right to strike excluded it would appear.

If the police do become unionised then the group to look to would be the fire service as an example of how the members might react. Young police officers do not have the same attitude to industrial action as those with lots to lose.

Much of what the government is doing is not conducive to the old style of dedication: jobs for life seems to be a dirty phrase so if the police are encouraged to see themselves as transient then that is a massive change in mental attitude.

What happens if there is another requirement for mutual aid like the miners' strike depends a great deal on what the government does. The Mets are asking for assistance on the 27th of this month despite many other forces expecting their own demonstrations. In the MS police were de facto on duty and working for 16/18 hours a day for 7 days at a time. They didn't get paid for all those hours as there was a fair bit of give and take, but I see no way that they'd get the same level of volunteers for such demands if they were not getting any extra money.

There is, of course, always the possibility of a strike if the police become unionised. What stopped the federation seeking further 'clarification' the time I know about was the government backing away from a confrontation. I have no idea if the subject has come up since although there have been rumours.

There is a divide between young and old officers. The latter have much more to lose by going on strike. The younger ones, especially those coming in front he private sector, as I did, will resent some of the management abuses. I was going to jack the job in after 18 months and it was only help from a chief super that got me through a difficult time.

I can see work to rule becoming fashionable again. It worked before on more than one occasion.

Many county forces will be reluctant to cause a fuss but the metropolitan areas are much more forceful in their outlook.

So I can see industrial action but striking may remain illegal.

[Elroy Blue]

gtdc said:

I thought the guys actually doing the anti social hours/stty/dangerous jobs are getting a rise and those who are office bound aren't getting extra allowances any more.

Can't see the proper plods minding that. Can see the comittee going suits minding it a lot though.

I'll believe it when I see it.

I wouldn't mind seeing all these supposed 'perks' that we apparently already get.

[AshVX220]

Mojocvh said:

V88Dicky said:

There's no reason why the police shouldn't be on the same pay scales as HM Forces, and have similar 'perks'.

Performance related bonuses?

WTF are they all about?


No-one in the public sector should be receiving bonuses like that.

What like HMRC?

The Police actually get paid quite a bit more than the Armed Forces anyway......I think.

[Corsair7]

Derek Smith said:

So I can see industrial action but striking may remain illegal.

Even if striking is illegal, how can a government enforce this illegality if it has no-one to actually enforce it? Bring in the troops? That would go down like a lead balloon with the general public, and would cause British intrests to be severly hit in the stock market.

So if you had say an 80% supprot for a general strike in the Police, and only the 'older/desk bound' types didnt support it, who would enforce the 'law' on illegal striking?

As has been said, a 'national sick day' would probably get the governments attention sufficiently. Thats what the airlines are doing now, isn't it?

[gtdc]

Elroy Blue said:

I'll believe it when I see it.

I wouldn't mind seeing all these supposed 'perks' that we apparently already get.

A few fewer diversity officers and there might be decent wages for those on the front line.

[dave9]

in the north the police seem to be on good salaries of say 30k plus a 9k employer pension contribution in effect plus good holidays and a relatively secure job.

in some parts of england that's pretty much the top earning job imho

swings and roundabouts - my friend is a police officer, has time to go to the gym and stay in shape, drive an M coupe and enjoy life. Plus the job is ok apparently

[Oakey]

V88Dicky said:

And what, pray tell, does the public sector actually produce?

Boiled piss on a national scale?

[Elroy Blue]

AshVX220 said:

The Police actually get paid quite a bit more than the Armed Forces anyway......I think.

I took a significant pay cut when I left the Forces and joined the Police

dave9 said:

in the north the police seem to be on good salaries of say 30k plus a 9k employer pension contribution

30K + a 9k contribution?????? Where do you get that from.

We pay 11.5% of our gross salary. So a bobby on 30k PAYS over £3k into his salary every year. He doesn't get it added on.

[thinfourth2]

V88Dicky said:

And what, pray tell, does the public sector actually produce?

As far as i can tell they takes lots and lots of trees and turn them into rubbish and tape

and one of these two things is only available in red

[Tsippy]

Prof Prolapse said:

How else do you keep people in menial jobs motivated?

Easy, if they don't do their job adequately, they lose that job

[Derek Smith]

Elroy Blue said:

30K + a 9k contribution?????? Where do you get that from.

We pay 11.5% of our gross salary. So a bobby on 30k PAYS over £3k into his salary every year. He doesn't get it added on.

In 'real' terms, at least according to American Express, police pay all but 12.5% of their gross into what is laughingly called their pension. The government figures were purposely distorted. I don't pretend to understand all the technicalities but it was compared to a private sector employee.

There is no doubt that the pay for a police officer in the north of the country is comparatively higher than for, say, a police officer in Surrey. This was a major anomoly and the fault of government. There was a time when recruits would join a home countries force and then apply to transfer to, say, Northumbria, where they would be welcomed as the cost of training had been paid, significantly reducing on-costs. The stabilising influence of housing allowance was removed by the government as an anacronism.

I'm off back to my old force to ask for my £9000 x 30.

I am unaware of any other public sector worker, from street cleaners down to MPs, who pay as much into their pension. I'd be interested to know if there are many private sectgor workers who pay 12.5% in real terms of gross.

[Johnnytheboy]

I would say that the proposals are quite clever in trying to divide and rule; setting the police who do the actual work against those who don't (I'm using the implied language of the reporting I've heard rather than my own opinions there).

My understanding is that those who do the night shifts/less pleasant jobs would actually end up getting slightly more than at present and the rest would get a lot less, so kicking up a fuss may be tacitly saying that you're one of the latter group.