Sunday, January 27, 2008

Over 18,000 police officers protest in UK

25 Jan — Thousands of British police officers marchedthrough central London on Wednesday in protest overannual pay rise.The PoliceFederation, which represents rank and filepolice officers, claimedsome 18,500 officers participated in the biggestpolice protest since 1919,Sky news reported. The police, out oftheir uniform, areexpected to march throughthe Home Office and theHouses of Parliament tovoice their anger.Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is the targetas she decided not tobackdate the agreed 2.5 per cent pay rise forofficers to September butinstead implement it in December.She argued thatkeeping public sector payawards below 2 percent isnecessary to keep inflationunder control.Police officersbelieve the governmentshowed a breach of trustby deciding to ignore therecommen- dation of anindependent PoliceArbitration Tribunal.Nonetheless, it wasannouncedrecently thatteachers are getting 2.45per cent rise in pay,
ndthe civilianstaff who workin police stations are alsogetting more than theircolleaguesin uniform.The Police Federationhas applied for judicialreview
of the HomeSecretary’s decision.

No comments: