They believe it should take effect from 1 September 2007, rather thanDecember as the home secretary has ruled. According to the PoliceFederation of England and Wales, this amounts to a 1.9% pay increase inreal terms. The Federation says it will ballot members for the right tostrike. Under current law, it is illegal for police officers to takeindustrial action. But the Federation is considering getting thisoverturned. In these circumstances, should police officers be allowed tostrike?
NO - SPOKESPERSON, HOME OFFICE
Ensuring public safety and national security are key priorities for theGovernment, which is why police officers can't take strike action. Thepolice cannot take strike action as they are prevented from joining atrade union (S64 Police Act 1996) so therefore do not have the benefitof legal protection afforded to the organisers of an official strike.Police officers who strike would be liable to disciplinary action bytheir chief constables for misconduct. Ultimately this can result indismissal from the police service. It is also a criminal offence tocause or attempt to cause disaffection among police officers, or toinduce them to withhold their services (Section 91 of the Police Act1996).
The Home Office was not prepared to attribute this comment to a namedperson
YES (RELUCTANTLY) - ALAN GORDON, VICE-CHAIRMAN, THE POLICEFEDERATION
I don't want the Federation to be responsible for jeopardising publicsafety. If police officers went on strike the implications could bedisastrous. But I would not stand by idly and watch this Home Office - arepressive regime - treat officers so unfairly. It doesn't want membersto have the same rights as other workers. In the absence of an open andtransparent pay and negotiation system, police officers should have thesame rights as other workers. Police officers are not able todemonstrate their anger, while every other sector has this right. Theyare left with no other course - they have nowhere to go. This cannot befair. We will consider officers' views and what is best for our members,the service, and the public. The Federation will be guided by itsmembers. The ultimate sanction would be to withdraw labour.
NO - ANDREW MAYO, DIRECTOR, MAYO LEARNING
This is a classic case of the Government acting pettily and I understandwhy the police are angry. It's one of those cases where a relativelysmall thing can have a big irritation factor, but I definitely don'tsupport police officers withdrawing their labour. And I'm sure lots ofpolice officers wouldn't either. People don't have a right to strikejust because they are employees. I believe that key people serving thepublic should never strike. I feel the same about lecturers, doctors andnurses, for example. Disputes like this can be settled by other means.While there isn't a case for them to strike, there are other ways forthem to make their grievances known to their bosses - in this case, theGovernment. There are different ways of not co-operating that won't hurtthe public. The real answer is dialogue.
