Report from Unison police and justice conference
Amy Sage, Delegate to Unison Police and Justice Service Group conference, personal capacity
In the opening remarks of Unison’s Police and Justice Service Group conference, it was highlighted that, in order to restore pay for probation staff to 2010 rates, pay would need to increase by 68%. This failure to keep up with the rising cost of living has had a determinantal impact on staff recruitment and retention with the current vacancy rate amongst Probation Officers, for example, up to 29%.
These concerns, however, appeared to fall on deaf ears when it came to Kim Thornden Edwards, Chief Probation Officer, who came to speak at the conference on behalf of the employer, armed with statistics showing off how many people have been recruited in the past year. Members were quick to respond with questions about how management intend to retain these staff members given that, when trained, these members of staff quickly moved to higher-paying, private sector jobs.
Reject the offer?
During the conference, some members also expressed concerns with the leadership of the union, particularly with regards to their lack of guidance when it came to last year’s below-inflation pay offer. My question about their position to neither accept nor reject the offer was met with a wishy-washy answer about how the committee who made this decision was democratically elected by members and therefore it was the correct position to take. It was also revealed that Unison has made moves to reopen the three-year pay deal on the basis that, at the time, no one could have predicted that RPI inflation would reach the levels it has done in the past year.
Overall, it was clear from this conference that Unison members working in the Police and Justice sector are angry, fed up and looking to the union to provide leadership. However, strikes weren’t mentioned once. There were several comments instead that suggested many are pinning their hopes on an incoming Labour government. This was summed up by Christina McAnea, General Secretary of Unison, who stated in her conference address: “We will hold the Labour Party to account on their promises to police and justice.” The best way to hold a future Labour government to account would be to make clear our preparedness to strike if it doesn’t give the funding needed.
In last year’s pay ballot, almost 40% voted to reject the pay offer and indicated that they were prepared to take industrial action. However, due to the lack of a fighting, coordinated leadership with a fighting strategy to reduce workloads, win inflation-proof pay rises and the resources probation service staff need to properly and safely do our job, members lacked the confidence in their trade union leadership to lead and organise strike action, and the Tories’ undemocratic 50% turnout threshold wasn’t reached.
It is clear that what staff working in the Probation Service need is a united left challenge within the union to democratise it and counter the Starmerite right wing that is content with simply waiting for Labour to be elected and, in the meantime, fails to really challenge the employers.
