PFEW announces ballot on industrial rights
11 October 2023
The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) will ballot its membership to see if we should seek industrial rights.
This decision follows more than a decade of requesting the Government to address police officers’ poor working terms and conditions. However, these requests have consistently been ignored by the Government, significantly depriving officers of the pay they deserve and the police service of much needed resources.
The Government’s neglect has resulted in a growing sense of anger and frustration amongst our membership. On its part, as the voice of more than 145,000 rank and file officers in England and Wales, PFEW is simply responding to its members’ very legitimate expectations and aspirations.
PFEW is working with a leading senior counsel (KC) on its approach to pursuing industrial rights for the membership.
Members of the PFEW’s National Council, which draws representatives from all parts of England and Wales, and National Board are united in their approach to ballot the membership on industrial rights as soon as practicable.
The announcement from PFEW follows this year’s Annual Conference, which today (Wednesday 11 October) saw the chair of West Midlands Police Federation Rich Cooke make an impassioned plea for such a ballot.
He said: “A 17 per cent average reduction in our real terms pay since the year 2000 is nothing short of scandalous. And we currently have no real recourse, no seat at the table to negotiate with the government, with chief officers around our pay. That's what needs to change.
“This ballot gives [police officers] across all the 43 Federation branches a powerful opportunity to change this and to make our voices heard in the corridors of power.”
Rich was contributing to a session on industrial rights, held on the second day of the PFEW Conference. It began with a reminder that police officers have been legally denied the right to strike for more than 100 years.
READ MORE: 'Let the voice of our members be heard on industrial rights'.
