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From the General Secretary’s Office Our Ref: JF/JP Your Ref: 7 February 2008 JBB Circular 18/2008 To: All JBB Secretaries Dear Colleague PNB meeting 6 February 2008 This is to update you on issues dealt with at the PNB meeting held yesterday.
2007 pay settlement. This item was on the agenda for "noting". The Staff Side refused "to note" the 2007 pay settlement as inappropriate, given the Judicial Review hearing set for 15/16 April and other unfinished business from Staff Side's 2007 claim. Level playing field The Staff Side had written to the Official Side on 17 December requesting a further meeting to resolve this outstanding issue from our 2007 claim. The Official Side advised yesterday that they were rejecting this element of our claim, on the grounds that their view of the PAT's award was that there was no convincing case. This is at odds with Staff Side's interpretation of the PAT award. Staff Side therefore registered a failure to agree and, as the matter had already been to conciliation last year, argued there was no merit in further conciliation and referred the matter direct to arbitration. Pay 2008 and beyond As you know, in relation to the Home Secretary's letter to the PNB Independent Chair dated 8 January, in which she made proposals for a multi-year pay deal based on the PAT's combined index to take effect from September 2008, on behalf of Staff Side I made a robust statement. A copy of the statement is attached, in which I reiterated our views and those of our members over the breach of trust in regard to the 2007/8 pay award; that as far as Staff Side was concerned, there was unfinished business from 2007; moreover, Staff Side was not prepared to engage in discussions for 2008 until that business was resolved. Also attached, please find a copy of the statement made by the Official Side in response.
London & South East Allowances
Staff Side's claim to update these allowances has been at conciliation for some considerable time. We had previously been advised that the Official Side would provide a definitive response at yesterday's meeting, and had informally been led to believe an offer would be forthcoming. In the event, we were advised that they were "working up proposals" they would then wish to discuss with the Staff Side at a reconvened conciliation meeting. In the circumstances, Staff Side considered this to be an unsatisfactory response, registered a failure to agree and referred the claim to arbitration. On-call allowance
Staff Side's claim for an on-call allowance had also been at conciliation for some time. In the absence of a positive response from the Official Side, Staff Side registered a failure to agree and referred the claim to arbitration. Pay on promotion and Probationers' pay
These two Staff Side claims had been on the table for a considerable time without much progress being made. In the absence of a positive response from the Official Side, Staff Side registered a failure to agree and referred these claims to conciliation. Shift allowance
The Staff Side put the Official Side on notice that a claim for a shift allowance would be submitted for the April PNB meeting. You will be kept advised of developments on the above issues as and when they arise. Yours sincerely, John Francis General Secretary |
