UK: Police Debate Right To Strike

[Oldbillplod]

The most controversial thing to happen to UK policing ever if it happens.


Frontline police officers are to discuss whether they should take the first step towards being allowed to strike.

The Police Federation will consider changing their status to a full-blown trade union, allowing them to take industrial action for the first time in nearly a century.

Officers have been prompted to re-assess the issue by the creation of civilian community support officers (CSOs), who are not allowed to join the Federation.

The organisation's annual conference in Blackpool will this week debate allowing CSOs to join, which could prompt a full-scale review of the right to strike.

Federation chairwoman Jan Berry said: "It would be wrong of us not to review it. It is one of the discussions that needs to take place. It may be that people say we need to be apolitical, and not strike."

There are motions before the conference in Blackpool next week both to open membership to CSOs and to exclude them, she said.

"It's going to be difficult, it's going to be a fine balance. But if police officers don't feel they are receiving the protections they need to do their duty, then we may need to revise what the working conditions for police officers are."

Mrs Berry insisted she did not detect a mood for the ability to strike among Federation members. "We are not inundated with people coming to us to say 'We want to be unionised, we don't think it's working as a federation'. I think it is important for the police service to continue to be apolitical, and that is one of the difficulties with unionisation."

Chris Fox, the president of Association of Chief Police Officers, said the issue raised several interesting questions. "What impact would such a move have on the operational independence of constables? How would the public react to such a move? I look forward to watching this debate as it progresses."

Police have been banned from striking since 1919.

[Mr.Melon]

Wow... I don't know about that. Police--striking? The pay may be bad, but... come on, you can't strike!


...Can you? I mean, how would you feel about that?

[oscarmitre]

At the moment the Police Federation can't take any industrial action at all. If they make the move to becoming a union they get out from under governmental control (which is where they've been since inception) and will be able to consider industrial action. That means they have a wide range of choices to improve their conditions. Striking would be the ultimate and I would suggest the very last response to be considered to an untenable situation. It would be like making a decision to "drop the bomb and live in the ashes".

http://www.polfed.org

[Oldbillplod]

I'm not sure if I am in agreement with this or not, all I will say on the subject is a few years ago the federation forced the government to employ a company to do an independant study into policing in the UK. Their task was to look at the ranks of constable and sergeant and how they have changed over the years.
Their conclusion was that for the police service to stay in line with other occupations and the pay they received we should receive a 30% raise.
Needless to say we got diddlysquat and were actually shafted by the former Home Secretary over pay and conditions.
If the threat of strike action makes the government sit up and realise we mean business then i'm all for it.

[Somebody]

That could be ... interesting, to say the least.

While I am not against fighting for fair pay, it would almost give cops too much power. Afterall, who is gonna say no if it means leaving an area completely unprotected?

Hmm, I guess we;'ll see :D

[Wombat311]

Back in 2000 we found ourselves fighting for a decent pay rise. The state government wouldn't come to the party, so, while a full strike wasn't an option, we did institute some industrial action.

Such things as;
No tickets.
Static patrols only. No pro-active work. Reactive only.
Certain forms only had the bare minimum filled in. None of the extra fancy details they want on collision forms.
No running sheets. (a log of what we do on patrol, where we are and who we speak to, pull over) - most of us kept our own notes though.
No stat forms, so the number crunchers had no idea what we were doing either.
Sticking rigidly to policy - No member was to work alone. Any one-man stations were closed, even 24 hr stations (like mine) closed overnight when there was only one person in the watch house. (we were also pushing for extra troops) There would still be someone inside for emergencies, but the doors were locked. The traffic units wehich almost work exclusively alone, were halved. Less visible police presence on the roads.

A few other things, but you get the idea.

A protest march, in uniform, was planned, but the government came to the table and a deal was made the day that was to happen.

If I remember correctly, Victoria Police actually did strike in the early 1900's and they just sacked anyone who wouldn't return to work and started hiring. It's now illegal for us to do a full strike. (as it should be, IMO - but limited action makes a point. The government felt the pinch in the loss of revenue of tickets)

[fatboyjim154]

I wouldn't strike, but I'd like the idea of the GOV'T thinking we will!

[oscarmitre]

I wouldn't strike, but I'd like the idea of the GOV'T thinking we will!

That's the secret. In any industrial negotiations the other party has to be kept on their toes by the potential for what might happen. As Wombat pointed out it's a long journey to actually withdrawing labour. And when you get to that point it's all over anyway - everyone's a loser. Police strikes - for the most part - have failed to achieve anything except mayhem and the dismissal of the participants. Smart industrial action is the key. My own Association has had quite a few industrial campaigns against the employer and won all of them and never had to publicly threaten to strike (although we gave the impression we would and the employer believed we would do it).