Bald On The Beat - New Zealand Police Association

PoliceNewsThe Voice of PolicePolice right to strike is very rareDr Ian McAndrew from the University of Otagospent 10 years (1987-1997) as the Director ofLabour Representation with the Peace Officers’Research Association of California, and therewere 15 strikes during his employment there.Dr McAndrew outlined the circumstancesaround that industrial action and the widevariety of pay bargaining frameworks that policeofficers operate under in different jurisdictions.He said that in terms of the Californian strikesthe effect was to “generate public fear of safetyand bring the employers back to the negotiatingtable”.The strikes were “relatively small” andinvolved about 700 people. Some had involvedengendering public support for the action andusually took the form of public demonstrationsand pickets. Food drives, and the use oftalkback radio and sound trucks to get themessage into the public arena had also provedsuccessful, Dr McAndrew said.Pay setting“Many law enforcement officers throughoutthe world are having their pay and conditionsset unilaterally without any input at all and wearen’t merely talking about third world countrieshere either. We are talking about respectedPolice forces like the Royal Canadian MountedPolice and a dozen states in the USA. In thoseplaces there is no statutory or common lawright to bargain at all,” he said.In terms of bargaining frameworks, collectivebargaining was the norm. Most systems havea dispute resolution process, which usuallyinvolves conciliation or arbitration. There isno guarantee of resolution/closure in manyjurisdictions, especially in the USA, where theability to pay was paramount.In Europe, bargaining to consensus was thenorm but often without any independentmechanism, such as referral to arbitration,when negotiations broke down.ArbitrationMany jurisdictions have the availability toarbitration (like in NZ) and this usually cameafter conciliation or mediation processes hadbeen exhausted. Arbitration varied considerablyfrom the arbitrator devising a solution throughto a system known as MEDARB, where anindividual or panel elects to mediate first andthen arbitrates if that doesn’t work out.As a general rule, Police pay setting is treateddifferently to other public sector employees andis often allied to fire and emergency services.As a general rule, non-sworn personnel aresubject to the same systems as other publicsector employees.“What is clear is that Police pay and conditionsimprove much more rapidly under systems,which have collective bargaining and/orarbitration and Police pay and conditionsimprove most quickly where there is a finaloffer arbitration system,” Mr McAndrew toldconference.‘Everybody out’Not all police strikes occur in a conventionalcollective bargaining setting. Spanish policewent out on strike as part of a General Strikeand strikes were relatively common in NorthAmerica in the 1970’s and 80’s. “These weretraditional American-style strikes. We’re out ofhere and we won’t be back until we have anagreement,” Dr McAndrew said.The strikes normally last between five andseven days but one, in Madeira County,California, went for six weeks. He said it was“quite a scary process”. Success in thesestrikes was usually defined as: “Splitting thedifference on the issues and nobody losing theirjobs. Usually everyone would get fired and thenreinstated as part of the settlement as a nonnegotiableissue.”With the gradual introduction of arbitrationin Canadian provinces and across variousAmerican states, strike action had become veryrare in the last 25 years.Dr McAndrew said there had been very littlewill on the part of Governments to give policeofficers the right to strike, although in theCanadian province of Saskatchewan police stillretained that right.More recently, European police strikes hadbeen in a collective bargaining setting and hadinvolved demonstrations, along with broaderpublic sector actions.Industrial alternativesOther alternatives to strike action had been torestrict normal work output i.e. refusing to writetickets or using discretion not to write them.There could also be more demonstrative actionsuch as “playing around with the uniform”and public information campaigns. “They area form of pressure but they do not guaranteeyou closure…they are not a substitute forarbitration and they are not really a substitutefor your right to strike either.”Restrictions on the right to strike are quitebroad in New Zealand, especially in essentialindustries and the health sector.Most of the overseas guests said that legislationprevented police from striking in their respectivejurisdictions but a few had “the potential” fortaking action.• Dr Ian McAndrew.298December 2006