Police Scotland officers to withdraw 'goodwill' in pay dispute
Officers will no longer take on unpaid overtime from 5pm on Friday
Police officers in Scotland are to take the most disruptive action in more than 100 years by withdrawing their "goodwill" amid an ongoing pay dispute.
Calum Steele, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, which represents officers, said the action will start at 5pm on Friday.
While officers in Scotland are prohibited by law from taking industrial action, withdrawing goodwill will show "significant discontent," Mr Steele said.
He told MFR News they had been left with no choice following a “derisory” offer to increase pay by £564, or 1.4% aggregate across the police service.
“They must have known at the time the offer was being made that it was derisory.
“Clearly the expectation our members would roll over and accept it must now be understood to be nowhere near the truth and they have to come back to the table with a much better and much fairer offer.”
The action means officers will not start their shifts early or take radio equipment home when their duty ends.
What will the action mean in practical terms?
Speaking about the impact the withdrawal of goodwill would have in practical terms Mr Steele said: “It does mean the many hundreds – indeed thousands- of free policing hours that are provided by police officers across the length and breadth of Scotland on a weekly basis will now no longer be delivered.
“It doesn’t mean that the police service will not be able to police.”
The measures are expected to be the first in a series of protests over the pay offer.
Officers have also been advised to ask for their previous contact numbers to be deleted from the Police Service records.
In a letter to Police Scotland Chief Constable Iain Livingstone, Mr Steele said: "Further actions to safeguard our members' health and safety and to mitigate the effects of the cost-of-living crisis on them will follow over subsequent weeks."
Officers will start and end their working day at the time of their rostered tour of duty "unless expressly directed or authorised to the contrary", he said.
And they will refrain from taking items of police personal protective equipment home with them, regardless of where they are expected to work the next day.
Officers will also not take any "ancillary items" such as radios or personal data appliances home with them.
Hard working officers "deserve better"
Scottish Conservatives justice spokesman Jamie Greene said the action shows that officers have "hit rock bottom".
"These measures may seem limited but, given that officers cannot legally go on strike, this is a powerful indication of how furious the police are with the SNP Government, who are shamefully trying to take advantage of their limited industrial action rights," he said.
"It's no wonder that frontline officers feel compelled to act when the SNP Government have offered them a derisory pay offer and handed them a real-terms budget cut of over £100 million."
He added that hard-working officers "deserve better".
Police Scotland remains committed to seeking a settlement
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "We recognise the considerable goodwill officers bring to their roles on a daily basis as they keep people safe across the country, and this is also valued by the communities they serve.
"We therefore remain committed, through the Police Negotiating Board, to seeking a settlement."
A spokesperson for the Scottish Police Authority said: "We remain committed to working with the staff side through the Police Negotiating Board to reach an agreement on pay for 2022/23."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "Police officer pay has been negotiated for many years through the Police Negotiating Board (PNB), which includes police officer staff associations, the Scottish Police Authority, Police Scotland, and the Scottish Government.
"The PNB process is ongoing in relation to pay for 2022/23, and we await the outcome of those discussions."