Reproduced
in full below, is the latest update on 'Pay and Conditions' from Douglas Keil,
our General Secretary and Deputy Staff Side Secretary.
The
Joint Central Committee held a 'Special Meeting' on 21st March at
which time Douglas did 'consult in confidence' with the Board's three Joint
Central Committee Representatives. I,
in turn, have consulted with the Branch Board's Representatives and I trust you
will share any views you have directly with them.
JOHN B FINNIE, JBB Secretary
26th
March 2002
"PAY AND CONDITIONS
Mass Lobby at Westminster - Wednesday 13th
March 2002
You will doubtless have
seen some of the media coverage of the Mass Lobby of Westminster by police
officers on Wednesday 13th March 2002. On that day, 10,000 police officers from across the UK lobbied
their MPs in what has been described as "one of the most effective lobbies
ever seen". I am pleased to say
that over 100 Scottish officers used their own time to participate in the event
and, along with four police pipers, really made an impact. Most importantly, on top of the massive vote
to reject the package, I think the lobby made a positive impression. The Home Secretary and other Ministers began
to talk in terms of a 'negotiated settlement' rather than a 'imposed solution'
and began distancing the question of pay and conditions from the other police
reforms being discussed in England and Wales.
This is precisely what we were, and are, trying to achieve. Only time will tell, but there is now no
question about the level of concern there is amongst police officers across the
UK about pay and conditions. Thanks to
all of you who voted and all of you who joined us in London.
Conciliation
In the last Bulletin
(Bulletin No 5/2002) I reported on the events at the PNB meeting on Monday 25th
February 2002 when a "failure to agree" was registered on both the
Staff Side's 12% productivity pay claim and the Heads of Agreement
Package. I said then that both issues
would move to 'conciliation' and estimated that that process would be complete
by the end of March. That timescale has
slipped somewhat and in this Bulletin I explain why that is, and, as far as I
can, explain what happens next.
There have been two conciliation meetings so far, one
on the 4th and one on the 18th March 2002. These meetings are confidential and the
detail cannot be reported publicly or brought to the attention of arbitration
should that prove necessary.
Conciliation has and is examining the Staff Side's 12% claim and the
Heads of Agreement package. It has been
conducted by the Independent Chairman of the PNB going back and forth between
working groups of the two Sides exploring whether there is any room for
movement on their positions. As agreed
in conciliation, I am only at liberty to report that the meetings on the 4th
and the 18th were 'constructive' but cannot release details of the
discussions. I am at liberty to 'consult in confidence' the representative
bodies of the Scottish Police Federation, the Joint Central Committee and the
Joint Branch Boards, and I have been doing that.
All I can say to you is that conciliation is moving
into a third meeting and you can take it from that that your Federation
representatives think that conciliation is getting somewhere. It would be a mistake for anyone to think
that we will get everything we want, or will get everything our own way, but
that is the nature of any negotiation.
Ultimately, we will only reach agreement within the PNB rather than go
to arbitration if we think the outcome of conciliation is better than we could
achieve at arbitration.
I said in the last Bulletin that I thought that
conciliation would be completed by the end of March but this will not now be
the case. The third meeting has been
scheduled for 18 April and it is envisaged that the actual PNB meeting where an
agreement will either be reached or not, will take place on 1 May.
What this means is that between 18 April and 1 May,
there will be time for me to hold confidential briefings with your Federation
representatives on the outcome of conciliation and for them to tell me what
they think our reaction should be. I
will keep you advised.
Douglas J Keil QPM
General
Secretary "
