|
Arbitration for On-Call
You will be aware that the Federated Ranks Claim for the introduction of a national on call allowance was the subject of an extraordinary meeting of the Federated Ranks Committee of PNB on the 9th February 2010. It is with considerable regret and disappointment that I have to advise you that despite the best efforts of the Staff Side negotiators, no agreement in respect of that allowance was reached and the matter will now be referred to a Police Arbitration Tribunal for final determination. The 9th of February was 5 years to the day from when the Federated Ranks first tabled the claim for this allowance. It is also one year to the day from when the FR lost patience with the Official Side’s approach of delay and further delay and registered a failure to agree. It was this failure to agree that ultimately resulted in a PAT and the PAT’s subsequent ruling in favour of the FR claim. You should be aware that despite the positive manner in which the FR have engaged in this process, this was not reciprocated by the OS who appeared throughout the process to resent that the PAT had found in favour of the FR claim. The OS made an offer of £10.00 for each occasion of on call with no differential between days on which officers had already performed duty, rest days and public holidays. The offer is also only 40% of the allowance paid to support staff and less than some officers currently receive through informal force arrangements. FR considered the offer offensive and derisory and rejected it accordingly. I appreciate this news will be met with disappointment by many but can assure you of our continued efforts to secure a level of payment which not only adequately reflects the imposition of being able to take a full and active part in personal and family life but also acts as a disincentive to the use of on call in the first place. Yours sincerely General Secretary
|