Police boards accused of 'bully' tactics over civilian staff wages

Unison, the public sector union, has claimed so-called back office staff are feeling the pinch of budget cuts and the Scottish Government's desire to keep up frontline police officer numbers. It says the cuts are mainly targeted at shift workers, who have now been given a "final offer" and told they must respond by 5 August.

Peter Veldon, regional organiser for Unison, said: "To issue a letter like this while negotiations are still continuing and demanding a response in five days is unreasonable and can only be described as 'bully-boy tactics'.

"The cuts outlined by the police boards would have a massive impact on our members, and while we're willing to negotiate, the proposals put forward so far - which would see more than a third of staff having their pay chopped - have been completely unrealistic.

"Police boards are under pressure from the SNP government to artificially maintain police numbers and so the cuts are falling entirely on civilian staff.".

Raymond Brown, the chairman of Unison's police branch, added: "The vast majority of shift workers earn under 21,000, and to cut their allowances by up to 12 per cent will have a massive impact. For some, it will be the difference between being able to pay the mortgage at the end of the month or not."