Adam Harmsworth, Napo NEC member, personal capacity
This year’s Napo AGM began days after members heard the result of the pay ballot, with two-thirds of members accepting a below-inflation deal. As reported in the Socialist (see ‘Probation workers accept real-terms pay cut following absence of union lead’), the probation unions’ leaderships failed to make the call for a ‘no’ vote and back their members in a fight for decent pay.
General secretary Ian Lawrence stated that, unlike most industrial disputes at present, a strike by Napo members would go directly against the government. However, at the AGM we heard from Jo Sidhu, chair of the Criminal Bar Association, which recently achieved a pay rise through strike action against the government. The Tories are a foe that can be defeated, especially in the chaos they are in, and especially if unions strike together.
Throughout the conference, members spoke about the horrendous consequences of low pay on probation. Recruitment and retention is dire, harmed further by trainee and newly qualified staff being overworked and thrown into difficult situations.
Rather than having any remedy to this, the government has planted new threats on the horizon, including the ‘One HMPPS’ project – a thinly disguised measure to make cuts in the prison and probation service.
Motions calling for a fight against ‘One HMPPS’ and for coordinated action to oppose anti-union laws passed almost unanimously. Jim Barton from the Ministry of Justice came to the AGM to defend One HMPPS. Barton was grilled by a furious audience on the plans, which members fear could wreck probation more than the reversed privatisation scheme. Throughout the discussion there were mutters across the room about going on strike to fight it.
That readiness to fight needs a strong lead from the top of the union.
