SCOTTISH PAY BALLOT

John Cairney, Scottish National Committee Chair reports on the Scottish pay ballot

There is a belief that members are disenfranchised and are only part of the POA for legal cover. During our recent pay ballot, members of the POAS showed that for what it is, a nonsense.To have an incredible 83.3% turnout shows that this trade union does indeed have a vibrant and engaged membership who want their voices heard.

Myself and Vice Chair, Jim McCabe, along with the national reps visited all establishments and spoke with the majority of the membership. These visits were invaluable for both the SNC but also the membership as it gave for honest and frank discussions to be had and I thank every single member who turned up, asked questions and took on board the honest and factual information we were sharing with them.

We informed the membership that we will take our lead from them, as they are the union, we explained what we needed was a fantastic turnout, 83.3% ensured that was the case, but also that we needed a clear mandate in going forward, and with 98.47% of the membership rejecting the derisory 2% pay offer, we have been given the clear mandate we needed to proceed.

Unlike our colleagues in the rest of the UK, we can take industrial action and at the time of writing this article work has begun on the administration side of conducting a ballot for industrial action. Once this piece of work is completed, we will be in a position where we can commence the ballot of our membership.

It should be said that taking industrial action is not a decision taken lightly by anyone associated with the union. In the current cost of living crisis we are in, losing wages is a hard thing to ask, and a harder thing to do and that may reflect the outcome of the ballot of the membership but we must remember that yet again through no fault of our own, public sector pay is being attacked and we again are the ones expected to plug the shortfalls in Government spending. We need to stand up to Government and demand a fair pay deal for our hard-working membership.

Dare I go back to COVID! Who were the individuals who attended their workplace to keep those in custody safe? Who were the ones that risked their own health to ensure a Prison regime was possible? Our members, that’s who and whilst Government can pay lip service to this and give empty words of praise, the reality is clear, they offered a derisory pay offer that will make our members poorer and I for one will not accept that for our membership.

Perhaps they don’t think we are serious about industrial action, but I have faith in this membership delivering a clear message to Government, WE ARE!

Thanks to the LBCs who did sterling work in obtaining such a phenomenal turnout and thanks to the membership for turning out in such high numbers, we needed a strong response either way, and we got it.It should be said that taking industrial action is not a decision taken lightly by anyone associated with the union, in the current cost of living crisis we are in, losing wages is a hard thing to ask, and a harder thing to do.