#FairPayForPolice: Federation take message to the heart of Government
“POLICE officers have given everything. Yet again, the Government has given them nothing”
That was the message taken to the heart of power this week as police officers from across the country came to Westminster to voice their fury at their treatment by the Government.
A huge billboard carrying the message “No Covid Vaccine. No Police Pay Rise. No Confidence in Priti Patel” accompanied the officers as it reminded those working in The House of Commons, The Home Office and 10 Downing Street of how the Government has betrayed the country’s hard-working police officers.
Brave colleagues who risked their safety – and sadly that of their families – as they kept people in the country safe over the last 18 months of the Covid-19 pandemic were last week awarded a 0% pay rise by the Government.
Deputy Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation Christian Borum said “I have come here today to represent my South Yorkshire Police colleagues and join fellow fed reps to register our dismay and anger at the pay freeze we have been subjected to”
As a result of the vaccine and pay betrayals, the Police Federation of England and Wales has passed a vote of no confidence in Home Secretary Priti Patel and has withdrawn its support and engagement from the Police Remuneration Review Body, labelling the current police officer pay mechanism ‘not fit for purpose’.
Christian continued “For 18 months, along with the NHS, we have borne the brunt of a global pandemic working in a deadly environment with inadequate PPE, having to work longer hours and having valuable rest days cancelled.
“It’s only right the NHS should be recognised but even then they haven’t been recognised enough.
“We now have a depleted workforce due to the pingdemic, and a demand that is equivalent to New Years Eve levels on a daily basis. Simply put, my colleagues are worn out.
“With the risk my colleagues take daily, should come with some form of reward. All we’ve asked for is a living wage and a pension to look forward to.
“For a decade now my colleagues have been derided and demoralised with our pay and conditions eroded.
“We were ignored when the vaccine programme was rolled out and it’s only down to our working relationship with the NHS that we achieved protection for our officers.
“We are the service of last resort. We are not merely crime fighters.
“And now. Once again we find ourselves in the same place with a pay freeze after 10 years of austerity, with a real term reduction in pay and conditions.
“We will never shirk from our primary duty of protecting life and property, preventing and detecting crime and keeping the Queen’s Peace. But we do far more than that.
“So with the risk no longer being rewarded, it might be time to approach the membership to seek out the most basic of workers rights finally and fall in line with the rest of the World as well as an immediate pay rise.
“We ask for fair pay for police.”