2 June 2015
Probation Pay Bulletin No. 9
UNISON MEMBERS VOTE STRONGLY
IN FAVOUR OF STRIKE ACTION
UNISON probation members have voted strongly in favour of taking strike action and action
short of strike action to try to improve the scandalous 0% pay offer for 2014. UNISON hopes
that the ballot result will persuade the employers to re-open pay talks to improve the offer,
and we have asked them to do this.
Members voted as follows:

Are you prepared to take part in a strike: 73% voted YES

Are you prepared to take part in action short of a strike: 88% voted YES
These are decisive results and UNISON’s Probation Committee voted unanimously to seek
the permission of UNISON’s industrial action committee to start industrial action in line with
members’ wishes. Permission has now been granted for the following programme of
industrial action.
STRIKE ON THURSDAY 11 JUNE
All UNISON members working for the National Probation Service and the 21 Community
Rehabilitation Companies will be called out for a one-day strike on Thursday 11 June. The
strike will be for 24 hours:


Strike starts at 00.01 on 11 June
Strike ends 24.00 on 11 June.
Members should not report for work on 11 June.
Members who start an unsocial hours shift on 10 June, and who were due to work into the
morning of 11 June, should walk out at 00.01 on 11 June to join the strike.
Members due to start an unsocial hours shift on the evening of 11 June, and work into 12
June, should not report for work until 24.00 on 11 June and then work the remainder of their
shift into 12 June.
UNISON will be organising picket lines of NPS and CRC offices, but we will not be picketing
approved premises, because we do not want to close these workplaces.
ACTION SHORT OF STRIKE ACTION: DON’T WORK FOR FREE
In addition to the strike action, all members working for the National Probation Service and
the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies will be called on to take the following action
short of strike action, which will start immediately after the strike on Friday 12 June and finish
on Friday 17 July (five weeks):

Work only your contracted hours - arrive and leave on time, rather than starting
early, or staying late in your own time

Do not attend work before the start of your shift if you work unsocial hours in your
own time

Do not accrue flexi-credit during the period of action short of strike action

Make sure that you use up all your remaining flexi-credit during the period of action
short of strike action

Take your full lunch breaks

Ensure that you take all health and safety breaks to which you are entitled

Do not agree to take on any voluntary overtime during the period of action short of
strike action

Take any TOIL which is due to you in the period of action short of strike action.
UNISON’s Probation Committee will review the strike action and action short of strike action
before making decisions on future industrial action.
WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE ACTION
UNISON is calling on you to support the industrial action for the following reasons:

The 0% pay offer is an insult to all the hard working probation staff who have been
put through the misery of Transforming Rehabilitation

What we are asking for is reasonable: inflation has cut the value of your salary by
16% since 2010, but your bills keep going up

If you take part, the industrial action will be more successful: employers and
MoJ ministers are more likely to listen if we all take part

If we can’t make the employers think again, things will only get worse: can you
afford any more years of pay freeze?
JOIN UNISON
Decent pay and conditions do not happen by accident. They are the result of trade union
members standing up for what is right and taking action when necessary. Taking industrial
action is very much a last resort and we hope that the employers and MOJ ministers will do
the decent thing and re-open pay talks. Probation staff deserve better than this.
If you are not a member of any trade union in the NPS, or one of the CRCs, you can take
part in our industrial action if you join UNISON now. Please contact your local UNISON
steward to get an application form. Alternatively you can join on-line; see details below.
Speak to your local UNISON representative for details of how to join or:
Call us FREE on 0800 171 2193
or join online at: www.joinunison.org