CIRC 017: POA MEMBERS AS KEY WORKERS DESERVE A PAY RISE

As part of the TUC campaign all KEY WORKERS deserve a pay rise, the POA support this campaign for all key workers. Let me make it clear Prison Officer Grades, OSGs and Custodial Workers are key workers, as are all our POA members in secure hospitals or wherever they work. 

Throughout the pandemic Key Workers have gone to work and risked their lives every day.  

This campaign gives POA members an opportunity to campaign with other key workers in their communities up and down the country and have your voices heard.

The plan involves the following; 

  1. Raise the minimum wage – which will up the pay of two million key workers overnight.  
  2. Give meaningful pay rises to the four million key workers in the public sector.  
  3. Ban the zero hours contracts which penalise key workers in health, social care and retail. 

Across the country, Key Workers and their supporters are putting pressure on MPs, making the case for a fairer deal for our key workers and POA members can play their part.

You can help:

Attend a meeting with your MP

Activists across the country are running online meetings with their MPs. The POA have got a page where you can search for your constituency and see if there’s one where you live. 

If you are able to join a local meeting it will make a huge difference - making sure POA members and other key workers where you live feel supported and your MP really pays attention. This is also an opportunity for each POA branch to organise and have your voice heard along with teachers, nurses, cleaners, drivers and other key workers. Another opportunity will be to join your local Trades Council where you will meet other like- minded Trade Unionists and campaign for a pay rise. Make your POA voice heard.

Search for meetings in your own constituency here https://www.megaphone.org.uk/calendars/winning-a-pay-rise-for-key-workers-meet-your-mp 

Record a video messag

As a POA Key Worker yourself, you can get your story in front of MPs by recording a video message with a new campaign tool. 

The videos will be shared with Politicians and on social media to help build the campaign. Your own stories are some of the most powerful arguments we have, and everyone will make a difference in raising pressure for change 

Do not worry if you have never done anything like this before, the tool will help you through the process and make it super-easy.

Record your own video message here https://www.videoask.com/fezpci6l8 

Please take a minute to support the campaign. Attend a meeting or record your own video message now. You could make all the difference. 

Thanks for your anticipated support.

Yours sincerely

Steve Gillan
General Secretary

Representing over 30,000 Prison, Correctional and Secure Psychiatric Workers, the POA is the largest UK Union in this sector, able to trace its roots back more than 100 years.