Police Staff vote Yes to Strike Over Pay

UNISON’s members working for police forces in England and Wales have voted yes to industrial action over pay.

UNISON members in the police service work in jobs such as 999 call takers, police community support officers, scene of crime officers, fingerprint experts, financial investigators, detention officers, crime reduction officers, crime analysts, enquiry desk officers, trainers, criminal justice clerks, a wide range of vital operational and organisational support roles.

The result of the ballot is as follows:

Are you prepared to take part in a strike?
YES: 59.6%
NO: 40.4% 

Are you prepared to take part in action short of strike action? 
YES: 79.4%
NO: 20.6 %

Charlie Sarell, Regional Organiser for Police Staff said:

"These results send a clear message that after two years of pay freeze and last year's below inflation pay rise, police staff have had enough. And that they are now ready to take industrial action over pay.

"We are calling on the police employers to return to the negotiating table to improve the current pay offer."The union’s Police Sector Committee will now meet to consider the ballot results and discuss next steps."

Police Front Counter Closures

We were shocked to hear the announcement yesturday from the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner of the extent of the cuts to take place to police front desks.

 

A review had been taking place but the announcement that twenty seven are set to close was unexpected. The closures will happen over the next 12 months and will mean that just ten front offices will remain open between 8am to 10pm and only Birmingham Central will remain open 24/7.

 

Our Regional Organiser for Police and Justice, Charlie Sarell said in response:

 

“UNISON is of course worried about the extent of these cuts and the service this will provide to the general public. The reasoning behind this review and the extent of the closures is clear, it is the fault of the Conservative government. The ongoing cuts to police funding is penalising the West Midlands unfairly, while some County forces in the south are not being affected. UNISON will be working hard to protect our members jobs but given the extent of the cuts we are significantly worried that they and other staff will be facing compulsory redundancies.”

While the Branch Secretary of West Midlands Police branch, Jill Harrison added:

 

“This is going to have a massive impact on our members and all the police staff across the West Midlands. We will be working hard to support all those affected by these significant changes, but this is about more than just jobs, it is going to impact on the local economy too. There is an unemployment issue in the West Midlands and making more people redundant will only make this worse”

 

The details of the announcememt can be found here

Police privatisation put on hold

The decision today at the West Midlands Police Authority to defer the controversial ‘Business Partnering for Police Project’ until after the new Police and Crime Commissioner has been elected is great news.

Well done to West Midlands Police UNISON branch on their relentless campaigning.

Charlie Sarell UNISON Regional Organiser said:

“Today the West Midlands Policing Authority has made the right decision. One that will be welcomed by police staff across the West Midlands Police Force who are extremely anxious about their future and by the wider community who value the integrated service provided by both police staff and police officers.

The election of the Police & Crime Commissioner in November can now focus on the how policing is provided in the future in the West Midlands”