Strike action was on the cards for police civilian employees last week as frustrations mounted on the thin blue line over the lack of what they considered a decent pay offer after several months of negotiations.
But the prospect of thousands of non-sworn staff walking off the job has receded with an 11th-hour pay offer on Friday afternoon, the Herald can reveal.
An email from Police Association President Chris Cahill sent to members last week expressed frustration with the fact the force had missed out on the pay raises enjoyed by other parts of the public service recently.
Last month, the Post Primary Teachers Association accepted the Government’s offer of a 14.5 percent pay rise over three years, while all nurses received a $4000 hike, plus a further increase next year, lump sum payments and additional increases for senior staff.
“You will all be aware the Government has made significant pay settlements for some sectors in the past months, but not for police,” Cahill wrote.
“While the association negotiates directly with the Police Commissioner’s representatives, the absence of a plausible offer makes it abundantly clear the Government is unwilling to fund a reasonable pay increase for police.”
As a result, the association was considering how best to force progress and was not ruling out a strike, he said.
“This email is to gauge your support for police employees to take industrial action, given they have the right to strike as a legitimate tool in pay negotiations.”
Section 69 of the Policing Act prohibits strikes by uniformed, constabulary staff. But this restriction does not apply to non-sworn civilian staff.
Those thousands of police employees include call-takers, intelligence analysts, finance and human resources staff, among others.
Cahill’s email said all association members, sworn and non-sworn, were affected by continued cost-of-living increases.
“However, the Government is not listening, and so we believe the option of industrial action by police employees should be considered to express the depth of our resolve.”
He said strike action would likely mean some constabulary staff would be redeployed to non-sworn roles.
“They would, however, fully support and understand if, after careful consideration, you opt for action,” he told members.
The email then linked to a survey to gauge the willingness of members to strike.
On Friday, the Government came through with an offer, Police Minister Ginny Andersen confirmed.
“The Government has been working on an offer for some time and I’m pleased to be able to say that this has been finalised and provided to the Police Association on Friday afternoon,” Andersen said.
“We believe it’s a strong offer for our police officers and staff, who do an incredibly important job.”
Neither she nor Cahill would confirm the level of pay increases on offer. It will be voted on by members.
Speaking on Sunday, Cahill said the association had been negotiating the new offer for several months.
“We’ve been frustrated by the lack of progress and we felt it was necessary to canvas our non-sworn police members on their views on industrial action,” he said.
He would not say what the exact results of the strike survey were but said they received a strong response to the email.
Cahill said at this stage, strike action was no longer on the table.
“We would have to see how matters progress.”