.... Just to clear up a couple of points that are regularly being quoted in the media, and even here on 'Prune which are factually incorrect
1) - "Police are angry that the recent pay award is not being
backdated to 1st September"
The Police Pay rise was
DUE on 1st September. Therefore the phrase "backdated" does not reflect the true situation, where the award made earlier this month has been
DELAYED by the Government, who refused to implement it from the due date, effectively reducing the pay award by 3/12 - for September, October and November. ( Except in Scotland where the arbitrators recommendations were implemented in full - obviously the English and Welsh Police Officers are not as worthy
)
2) - The pay award is
NOT 2.5%. This is the amount that the arbitrators decided should be paid - from 1st September - but by failing to implement from the due date, the amount is effectively reduced by the 3/12 mentioned above, in other words a 25% reduction on the 2.5% award.
3) - The pay award is
NOT 1.9% either - that is the figure that has been conveniently "rounded up" from the actual figure of
1.875% !
I support the Police in their campaign to let the government know how angry they are about the treatment they have received.
To just sweep aside the existing pay negotiations / agreement, and then ignore the results of the arbitration and apply their own interpretation, show that the Government never had any intention of allowing any more than a 2% pay rise, no matter what the abitrators decided - if they had awarded more, then the Government would probably have fudged the figures for staged payments to make sure it was still less than 2%, making a complete mockery of the whole saga.
The Police Officers I have spoken to would have no problem if the formula used for negotiating their pay were changed, provided the changes were FAIR and reflected both the nature of the work they do, and their peculiar personal circumstances - where they cannot strike, have restrictions placed on their private lives, and face ever increasing levels of danger on a daily basis.
Having said all of the above, I would
not support the Police going on strike, and believe they would lose Public support if they did so.
On the brighter side I assume that all English and Welsh Police Officers can look forward to their Council Tax bills, and all their other bills for that matter, rising by a percentage no more than the cost of their wage increase, due to the prudent financial handling of the economy by Golden Brown and his party.
