Reaching agreement?
The police will be the first public servants to be offered a three-year pay agreement.
The home secretary is writing to the leaders of the Police Federation and the Association of Chief Police Officers to invite them to discuss the possibility of a multi-year pay agreement. In her letter Jacqui Smith promises that if agreement is reached between the Home Office and the organisations which represent police officers, she believes that the agreement would be implemented in full.
In addition, I understand that health ministers are currently in informal talks with unions representing nurses and other NHS workers about the possibility of a multi-year agreement - which would substitute for the work currently being carried out by the NHS pay review body.
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Great! So the police agree a 3 year pay deal without knowing how inflation will grow over that time. What if it picks up and the police see their pay being reduced in real terms? Will this be reflected in the next three year deal? Well, this is the government that went to arbitration, lost, but then ignored the outcome anyway(in England at least). Why should the police (or anyone else) trust this government again? Gordon Brown has dug himself a hole over this, but no doubt it will be Ms Smith who will suffer the consequences if it all goes pear-shaped. I suspect that it will. There is no sign of the public being won over by government arguments that their attitude towards the police is fair. When MP's vote themselves a bigger than 2% pay rise (any bets that they won't?)it will be interesting to see the reaction.
....and MP's?
If you are quoting Jacqui Smith's letter directly, it is interesting to note that after her failure to honour arbitration on police pay even though police forces had budgeted for it (and Scottish forces have been paid it),she is careful to state that she only 'belives' any three year agreement would be implemented in full. Why would the Federation enter into any discussion with her, where from the start she admits this government could not be relied on to honour it.
If you are quoting Jacqui Smith's letter directly, it is interesting to note that after her failure to honour arbitration on police pay even though police forces had budgeted for it (and Scottish forces have been paid it),she is careful to state that she only 'belives' any three year agreement would be implemented in full. Why would the Federation enter into any discussion with her, where from the start she admits this government could not be relied on to honour it.
So the Police will be the first public servants to be offered a three-year pay agreement?? How can the police or other public servants trust this government to honour any 'agreement'. This is a bit rich comimg from a minister who had along with her civil servants conspired to renage on the decission of the independent review of police salaries even before the decission was announced. Sorry Nick, this government cannot even be trusted to tell you the time of the day. It is not about the money per se - it is about trust, integrity & honesty.
Thats an excellent idea seeing as there is such a good relationship between the Police and the Home Secretary at the moment.Just goes to show the competance of the Home Office.
Haven't we been here before? Remember Heath-Wilson and pay restraint? As soon as the public sector unions are bribed and badgered into selling their members down the river, "for the good of the Country(?!)", the lid will come off inflation as the government seek to reduce their borrowing by effectively devaluing the currency. There are people out there who voted THREE times for this load of incompetent, corrupt, stalinist idealogues. For those of you who are too young to remember the chaos before Thatcher, you are about to relive the 70's. First up, "Winter of Discontent - The Sequel". Running concurrently will be "Return of the IMF". One day soon, some time-serving Nulab apparachik will tell us that swapping pounds sterling for euros will not be inflationary. Time is an ever-circling maelstrom.
First??
You mean first APART from the entire NI Civil Service who have had a 3-year deal in place since April??