Industrial Rights To Be Debated At National Council

THE Federation should explore industrial rights at a time when police pay and conditions are suffering, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.

Police pay is lagging way behind inflation, and while nearly every other part of the public sector has been withdrawing their labour, this is something that police officers are unable to do.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: “In South Yorkshire, we believe that we need to explore industrial rights. The Police Federation of England and Wales is compiling a paper to be debated at the national council, which is coming up this month.

“We need to look at, from a legal standpoint, what kind of collective bargaining we can achieve, or what change in our rights we can get going forward. We probably need to wait to see what the pay announcement is before we take the next step, but that’s our position.

“That view may not necessarily be shared everywhere else in the country, but I’m here to represent the opinion of South Yorkshire Police officers.”

Steve said that the “vast majority” of police officers would not want to strike, and that it was also extremely unlikely that that option would be available.

However, he continued: “This is about looking at whether we can have stronger industrial rights and protections, and achieve transparent and binding arbitration on police pay. That would be a massive step in the right direction.

“This is also about showing the strength of feeling that is out there among officers at the moment, as they are really fed up with continually falling behind in pay compared to police forces in other countries, and other industries.”