Police Federation - Poll for full industrial action rights.

The Police Federation of England and Wales are not going to let Jacqui Smith get away with welching on their pay arbitration. She may think it's over, but the Federation have other ideas. 140,000 Police Officers are to be polled on whether they wish the Federation to begin to lobby for full industrial rights for them.

The following is taken from a Federation press release :

Two questions will appear on the poll, which will be undertaken by independent research company Ipsos MORI:

1.Do you think the decision of the independent Police Arbitration Tribunal should be binding on the government?

2.In the absence of binding arbitration on the government, do you wish the Police Federation of England and Wales to start to lobby for a change in legislation to allow police officers full industrial rights?

The survey will be conducted both online and via paper questionnaires. Police Federation members will be able to access the online survey via www.polfed.org and Local Federation Branch Boards will also have paper questionnaires that can be distributed. Final details regarding distribution is still being finalised with branch boards. The survey will go live from 24th March. The online poll with close on 2nd May, and the paper poll will close on 25th April. The results will be available at the Police Federation annual conference in Bournemouth in May.

I wish them good luck. Why should Police officers be restricted to wage increases in line with the CPI (2.1%), when MPs increase their expenses in line with the RPI (4.3%)?