Unison probation workers’ strike


Probation workers in Unison took three hours of strike action on 14 September in an ongoing dispute over pay. Steve Score supported the picket line at Cobden Street, Leicester and spoke to Steve Jeggo, Unison Probation East Midlands assistant branch secretary and local convenor:

“We are here because of the zero pay rise we were offered last year. In the past seven years I have received, along with many others, five 0% pay rises and two 1% pay rises. Even though we have been privatised we will get no more than 1% for the next four years. It shows the current government thinks that probation workers are worth nothing.

“This strike has managed to successfully close down ‘unpaid work’, no vans are leaving the site today. Very few have crossed the picket line and we have had tremendous support from service users.”

The strike is followed by a work to rule, and there are more battles in the pipeline over job losses.