UK police officers will vote on right to strike

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Police on foot patrol

Police officers and officials at an emergency meeting have voted to ballot every United Kingdom police officer over the right to strike. They also called for the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, to resign over the current dispute and further passed a vote of no confidence in the home secretary's ability to deal with pay and conditions.

Under current UK law, it is illegal for police officers to stage walk outs as part of protests or disputes, however some members of the force want to strike over the pay package dispute and thus are lobbying for the right to strike to be allowed once again. This has also been supported by a petition, started by Keith Vaz, chair of the home affairs select committee, which has been signed by 78 MPs.

This comes after the decision by the UK government not to backdate a 2.5% pay rise to September 2007, leading to a loss of income, from £130 - £264. However the government says that this is necessary to control inflation in the UK.