It’s Time To Ballot On Industrial Rights

IT is “definitely the right time” for Federation members to ballot on industrial rights, the Chair of Hampshire Police Federation has said.

Public-sector workers including doctors, nurses and teachers have been striking as part of their fight for better pay and conditions, but police officers, as Crown servants, do not have the same industrial rights.

Hampshire Police Federation Chair Zoë Wakefield said: “I think it is definitely the right time to ask the question. We’ve been talking about it for a long time and we need to now just get on and do it.

“I know there are concerns from the national Federation around the legalities of what we’re asking people and making sure we’re not leaving ourselves open to any sort of legal challenges.

“But enough of our members are asking us about it and we’re a member-led organisation. So we need to get a real steer from our members as to what they want us to do.

“We need to wait and see what the national Federation’s plan is, but at our open meeting when we’ve got a lot of people in the room and people online, we may just do a quick poll, which will give us a steer as to how Hampshire officers are feeling.”