Unison recommending police staff consider industrial action

The public sector union, Unison, is recommending its Nottinghamshire Police civilian staff members consider industrial action.

If industrial action did happen, it would be the first time staff walked out or worked-to-rule on anything other than a national issue.

As exclusively revealed by the Advertiser, Unison, has been in formal dispute with the force over its redundancy policy for civilian staff for some time.

Nottinghamshire Police says negotiations are continuing.

An email from Unison, written by the force's internal Unison branch, recommends staff subject to the second tranche of redundancies don't take part in the process.

The email takes issue with the force's Management of Change policy. The union says the policy and redundancy procedure should be "re-negotiated as a matter of urgency."

The email, leaked to the Advertiser but now released by Unison to media, says lessons learned when the first staff were selected for redundancy have not been implemented in time for the second tranche, which begins on July 1.

The areas these cover include pension augmentation, pay protection, job evaluation, appeals procedure and suitable alternative employment. It also suggests a pre-determination of who is to be retained.

The email says the policy is rendered "unfit for purpose."

It says staff have potentially been unfairly dismissed and discriminated against.

In part, the 11-page document reads: "It is therefore our view that we must now ask our members what they want the branch to do.

"Our recommendation to members will be to consider industrial action.

"If there appears to be a consensus of opinion in agreement, we will ballot members to see if there is an agreement to carry out industrial action in an attempt to alter the view of the employer and act reasonably."

A retired senior police officer said industrial action on a local issue would be unprecedented.

He said if there were a walkout the greatest impact would be in the control rooms, where operators are civilian staff, and in the loss of police community support officers.

There would be no forensics or vehicle examiners who are all civilian staff.

He said police station front counters could be forced to shut.

"You can bet your last pound that while the force will seek resolution, contingency plans are already being worked up for this," he said.

A Nottinghamshire Police spokesman said: “At the end of last year we began a radical re-engineering of the force in order to enhance efficiency and effectiveness and to respond to reductions in Government funding.

"Workforce reduction is regrettable but a necessary measure in light of the significant financial challenges the force faces.

"The force is consulting extensively with staff and staff associations throughout this process, seeking their views and opinions and keeping them informed of important information. This will continue as we move forward with the restructure.

"We are committed to transforming Nottinghamshire Police to make us the best force in the country by 2015. Our emphasis remains on cutting crime, keeping people safe and preserving and enhancing the service we deliver to the public of Nottinghamshire.”