Met Police staff to go on strike

05 March 2008

Metropolitan Police staff today voted to go on strike in reaction to a below inflation pay rise.

Up to 9,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services union are planning to strike on Wednesday 12 March. Seventy per cent of staff, including Police Community Support Officers, traffic wardens and 999 operators, all voted in favour of the one-day strike.

Two hundred police stations across 32 boroughs will be hit.

Metropolitan Police HR director Martin Tiplady is in talks with the union tonight (Wednesday) in a bid to come to a compromise.

“The current offer compares favourably with other settlements across the public sector in 2007”, says Tiplady. “But we remain keen to avert industrial action and will continue to seek a way forward.”

Staff have been offered a 2.5% pay rise, which falls well below the retail price index measure of inflation (4.1%) that the unions use.