Adam Harmsworth, Napo National Vice Chair (personal capacity)
97% of Napo members who voted definitively said ‘yes’ to action short of strike action, 90% for strike action itself in a ballot which closed on 22 August. Probation workers in the union which represents workers in the probation service and family courts are in dispute over pay and working conditions.
Despite a strong effort from Napo branches and activists, just under 45% of ballots were returned. Because Starmer’s Labour government has kept the Tories’ 2015 anti-union laws, Napo cannot take action despite a clear democratic mandate.
The ballot was launched following dispute over a truly horrendous workload situation, and over the fact that we have not yet received a formal pay offer.
The probation service is on its knees. Just one sector, sentence management, has been revealed to have less than half the staff it needs to meet its legal requirements. Meanwhile, the Rademaker Report showed the probation service is rife with bullying, harassment, and discrimination.
Thousands of probation workers, in Napo and in sister unions or no union, hoped this ballot could force some change from this government.
There will be lessons to be learned from the fact that turnout did not reach threshold, and Napo will need to recover quickly to ballot when it does receive a pay offer that will undoubtedly be inadequate.
This Labour government is getting away with acting just like the Tories. In most countries in Europe, the Napo members’ vote would be enough to strike. But, the Labour government has deliberately kept the Tories thresholds on the books, despite promises to scrap them in the general election. Labour is also continuing to drag probation workers into a bigger and deeper mess through brutal austerity.
The fight is on to use this overwhelming support for action to get over the government’s repressive hurdles next time around. Together with the industrial battle, we would be strengthened by a new party of the working class.
Napo members were among over 1,000 trade unionists to join the Trade Unionists For A New Party meeting on 21 July where Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn spoke shortly before launching ‘Your Party’.
Following this, several members have formed a Napo For A New Party group, with a follow-up meeting planned for 1 September at 6:30pm on Zoom. Members can join via the ‘TU4NewParty’ linktree at https://linktr.ee/TU4NewParty
