Angry police set to join pay protest.Byline: HAYLEY CUTHBERTSON COACHLOADS of police officers will be travelling from Coventry and the the West Midlands West Midlands, former metropolitan county, central England. Created in the 1974 local government reorganization, the county embraced the Birmingham conurbation and comprised seven metropolitan districts: Walsall, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell, Birmingham, Solihull, for a mass rally in London next week. Up to 10,000 officers from all over the country are expected at the rally, on March 13 opposite the Houses of Parliament Houses of Parliament: see Westminster Palace. , to register their anger over government pay reforms. An overwhelming 91 per cent of rank-and-file officers voted against a pay package proposed by Home Secretary David Blunkett David Blunkett (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician and has been Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside since 1987. Blind since birth and from a poor family, he rose to become Education Secretary from 1997 to 2001, and then Home Secretary from 2001 to , which they claim would see thousands of front-line officers worse off. Joe Tildesley, chairman of the West Midlands police West Midlands Police is the Home Office police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second largest in the United Kingdom after London's Metropolitan Police [1]. It covers an area with nearly 2. federation, said some 750 officers were planning to make the trip to London, including 100 from Coventry police stations. It has been stressed they will all be attending in their own time. They will travel in convoy convoy Vessels sailing under the protection of an armed escort. Since the 17th century, neutral powers have claimed the right of convoy in wartime, providing warships to escort their merchantmen and keep them secure from search or seizure. before meeting up with colleagues from all over the country. Some 76 per cent of Midlands officers took part in the ballot last month, with 93 per cent of those voting to reject the deal. Mr Tildesley said: "The rally will be unprecedented, certainly in my 30 years as a police officer. We intend to lobby the West Midlands MPs and put our views across. Officers voted no to the reforms because they do not trust the government, who are doing absolutely nothing to raise morale within the police service." The federation has organised the rally for officers - who are legally prevented from striking or taking other industrial action - to mark their anger at pay reforms which would effectively slash overtime rates The overtime rate calculates the ratio between employee overtime with the planned working times in a specific time period. Interpretation A high overtime rate is an indicator of a temporary or permanent high workload. for officers, even though overtime can be compulsory. Pay deal talks between both sides started on Monday and are being overseen by the independent Police Negotiating Board. |
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