Police are to ballot on right to strike

The Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents 135,000 police officers up to and including the rank of chief inspector, is to ballot members on whether police officers want “full industrial rights” including the right to strike. The move has been driven by what it describes as a “dangerous cocktail” of cuts, politicisation and privatisation, and comes in the wake of the publication of part two of the Winsor report (see Workplace Report, March 2012).

Ian Rennie, the Federation’s chief negotiator on pay and conditions, said: “This is not just about pay and conditions, this is about the future of policing in this country.”