A Fine Message From Pat Waterman

TO: NAPO Greater London Branch MEMBERS

Don’t mourn. Organise

On the eve of his execution in 1915, the Swedish-American trade union organiser Joe Hill had a surprisingly upbeat message to pass to Bill Haywood, a fellow Industrial Workers of the World activist: “Don’t waste any time in mourning. Organise.”

Aside: - In Folk Music circles there is a famous song about Joe Hill - which has been featured at least once on the Folk Music aficionado - Mike Harding's (Of Rochdale Cowboy and Formerly the BBC 2 Radio Folk Music programme fame) - Internet radio show - 

I found a version here: - http://mhfs.podomatic.com/entry/2013-03-17T14_37_01-07_00 - Number 6 - 20 minutes 45 seconds from the start.

Back to the GL Bch Email: -

Having been subjected to sifting and sorting, case validation exercises, and now training in quite what nobody is really sure, many of you are being invited to parties to mourn the loss of your LDU.

LPT may be coming to an end but let me assure you that the fight being mounted by this union is far from over.

Your Chief Executive, having reported on her mad social whirl this past week, tells you that :

"now we have the serious business to attend to of ensuring the NPS and CRC can function effectively and that service users have a positive experience".

I advise you all to read the email from your National Chair and General Secretary, sent earlier today, and the email from Mike McClelland, National Official, detailing the discussions taking place between the unions and the MOJ. The message of this union to you all is clear.

The chances of the NPS and CRC functioning effectively are becoming more and more unlikely by the day.

As I have said on more than one occasion it will start to get really interesting as potential buyers start to look at the CRC’s and wonder quite what it is they might be buying. They will be looking for something that functions effectively and efficiently with a willing and compliant workforce.

Is that what we are?

At the SGM in Birmingham on 5th March our General Secretary announced further strike action from 12 noon on Monday 31st March and all day on Tuesday 1st April. I am writing to you all to ask you to support this action. The government’s plans cannot be implemented without our cooperation. They need our skills and expertise. We need to show them what we feel and strike action is one way of doing so.

Placards and leaflets will be available for distribution at the branch meeting this Friday 21st March. We will also be discussing how best to organise this action. We can build on our experience from our previous strike last November. Contacts with local papers and radio have already been made and should be quickly re-established. Please contact the branch officers for help, advice and support in organising local picket lines

Following the success of our “battle bus” last time we will be planning another one to travel round Central London on Tuesday afternoon. All are welcome but priority will be given to those who did not go on the bus last time. Please send your names to Mail London NAPO.

We will also be planning a march from BPR to the MOJ to give Chris Grayling a birthday surprise he will always remember.

So let us not mourn the loss of LPT but let us focus our energies on organising and defeating the government’s plans to destroy and privatise the probation service. Striking is one plank in our armoury. We need to make it successful to send a clear message to Mr Grayling.

Probation is not for sale

Pat Waterman Branch Chair

Rambling Thoughts

This blog started as a rant about the way the government are dealing with me and my colleagues in Probation-land. More people have visited my blog than I imagined, and I keep bumping into people who have read a blog entry, and then made positive comment. The blog has helped me to come to terms with Transforming Rehabilitation, and given me stronger views which are opposed to the privatisation of public services. But the mystery of TR is still unexplained, and  it's  full impact upon probation colleagues is unexplainable - it does not add up, or make any sense.

I suppose I have got a policy of just having a go at the coalition government, who I see as fair game, and so unlikeable, rather than having a go at individuals. Also, I personally do have respect for my top managers in my trust, who I know don't like TR, and who have done their fair share of communicating to MP etc about their concerns. But TR is what it is, and we have been forced to move forward with it.

Today, I listened to the radio which was playing old extracts from Tony Benn speeches, and I agreed whole-heartedly with him, that government needs to be by the people and for the people. Rather than a government by the rich, for the rich. 

Like many of my colleagues, I was expecting the House of Lords outcome, but when it came I was still gutted, and left feeling deflated. Transforming Rehabilitation is now legally established and the split will go ahead. 

After the sale of the CRC's, if there is a sale, I expect to lose my job, as I believe that part of TR is about the government employing big business to make me redundant, in order to give my job to a lower paid worker. I could be wrong, because sometimes I am, but time will tell.

I must admit I struggle with the demands of both home and work together. My wife's early retirement due to Multiple Sclerosis, has increased my responsibilities at home, and Transforming Rehabilitation has increased my responsibilities at work. My own struggle with dyslexia has also made me fear that my own capabilities might not cope with the demands set before me. Maybe, I should not fear redundancy, as I have paid for my home, and love being there, but I do fear being cast aside, and having little hope for the future in regards to future employment.

Being an ex-prisoner has never been an issue at work really, as the Probation Service employed me, in part, because of my history, at a time when the POP's teams were being created. One of my proudest achievements was to work beside police officers for near on ten years, and to be able to work together in a positive way. I still remember the way a bit of praise for progress made from a police officer, towards a client could help give a person real get up and go as they worked towards positive change. 

Things have moved on in Probation-land from when I could really get alongside clients by:  doing lots of home visits; playing badminton; going running, swimming and walking as part of an intense program. My wife then a PO, aways used to say that I had one of the best PSO jobs in the service, and she was right. 

Training was given to me in abundance, and I was one of the first PSO's to complete the NVQ. I remember that I was always asking for permission from my SPO to take training days, for which I was entitled. My SPO eventually said, "just take what you need, you don't have to ask for permission, I know that you wont take advantage", and I didn't, but I appreciated the trust which was extended to me. However, I then applied for the PO training, and passed the presentation with flying colours, but my achille's heal of putting thoughts into writing let me down, and I was told that the written exercise gave concerns about my ability to cope with the studies. I then completed two of the modules of the PO training with good passes, which to my mind proved that I could study at the level required, but alas, it was not enough to get me on the course, and I watched many of my PSO colleagues progress with their further development. 

So training days are over, and the task ahead, which is going to be a considerable one, I think,  will be just keeping  up with changes and the programs introduced by Transforming Rehabilitation. When the task is complete, I think that this will lead to my redundancy. Happen, I haven't got a very positive employment outlook, but this government has clouded over any positive outlook I have had (and I know I'm not alone in this).

I'm on leave from work now for the next two weeks, and have left my colleagues angry at the Celebration Of Achievement conference which has been set up by management. Many people in my office don't want to go, and there is talk of boycotting it. I personally don't have a problem with celebrating the many achievements of the Probation Service, and separating all that positive stuff from Transforming Rehabilitation.  However, I'm on leave so will not be attending.

Anyway, I've just read what I've written, and realised that I am a better writer, when I'm quoting other people, and I've got a bit of structure. But it is what it is, just like TR which is impacting so many public servants, in so many ways, and I've just ended up with a few rambling thoughts.

Quack Quack, Paddle Paddle, Strike Strike!

"The Ugly Duckling" is a literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Anderson(1805 – 1875). The story tells of a little bird born in a barnyard who suffers abuse from the others around him until, much to his delight (and to the surprise of others), he matures into a beautiful swan, the most beautiful bird of all. The story is loved by many around the world as a tale about personal transformation for the better

My Probation colleagues could relate with this in regards to the plans of Transforming Rehabilitation because In original story the "ugly duckling" was really a cygnet but nobody realised, and although the Probation Trusts are a quality service which has served this nation well, the Moj and NOMS have failed to recognise this, and have abused staff and their service. Like the other ducklings in the story, the MoJ and NOMS have acted without good evidence and too little knowledge.

Now on that slant probation workers might be able relate with the story. However, Transforming Rehabilitation trainers in my Probation Trust have come up with an novel slant to the story. During a Transforming Rehabilitation briefing this week, an analogy was given of the journey staff will we make from Trusts to CRC/NPS over the period from April to June. The trainer painted the picture of a fast flowing river with two banks. The ugly ducklings leave one bank ( 1st April into shadow CRC/NPS) and paddle, paddle paddle to get to the other side. Some of the ducks will get to the other side easier than the others, we were told. But once they get to the other side (CRC/NPS June 1st) they will become like beautiful swans! To be fair the briefing was quite informative, but the analogy was difficult to relate with - and as a colleague remarked, "more like sinking ships than paddling ducklings!"

HMS Probation

Anyway, I reckon I might be a duckling with a paddling defect and stability problems. I left NAPO last month and rejoined this month. I wont go into the negatives, but the positive is that I needed to be part of the Strike action on the 31st March and 1st April, as I'm struggling to become a beautiful swan. I filled out the NAPO registration form: Have you been a member of NAPO previously - "Yes". When - "Last Month";o) Oh well! I'm still in the water of transforming rehabilitation and the privatisation of a quality Service which has served this nation well - Quack Quack, Paddle Paddle.

Or rather, Quack Quack, Paddle Paddle, Strike Strike! - because Privatisation means:

1. Less Protection for the Public.

Privatisation mean Court cases being abandoned and criminals walking free due to cutbacks

Privatisation means Prisons being under staffed and prisoners coming out worse then they went in.

Privatisation means Probation Trusts are being sold off even though they have served this country well. Even though their record is first class in regards to public protection. Even though the experts have advised the Government against this.

The Daily Mirror previously reported, "Plans to sell off the Probation Service will put the public at “very high risk” of harm, a secret official report reveals.

The findings – previously leaked to the Sunday Mirror – say more criminals will reoffend if private firms and charities are put in charge of their rehabilitation.

The Probation Association report claims Justice Minister Chris Grayling’s privatisation, being rushed through before 2015, will result in “poorer outcomes for victims, communities and offenders” and an overall “higher risk to the public”.

2. Less Money for the Public.

Privatisation means more Fats Cats and they don't come cheap with their wage rises, bonuses and "greed is good" mantra!

Privatisation means Corporation overcharging the Public Purse by over £24 million, and now the Serious Fraud Office are in investigating this loss.

Privatisation means Corporations being able to evade tax on their earnings with more loss from the public purse.

Privatisation has meant gas, water, electricity and rail has prices have continued to rise and Government seems powerless to act.

3. Less Democracy for the Public.

Privatisation means Companies being Accountable to Shareholders rather than the general public.

We are all aware of the saying, “The tail wagging the dog” and I think that we are becoming more and more aware that the big Corporations are now wagging this Government.

Privatisation is moving away from the Government being run by the people, for the people.

Privatisation means that the Public has less voice, less input  and less democracy.  

Privatisation means selling out to global companies and we are becoming like tenants in our own country.

4. Less Workers for our Communities.

The Government has previously spoken about Probation’s privatisation as being a Evolution, which has been worked on for a long time.

But make no mistake it’s a Revolution to British workers, who have give good service to this country, who are being undermined, or dispensed with.

Jane Street and associate director in the NHS said that “Privatisation means the same staff do the same job for less money, through an expensive process. Wasteful and unnecessary”

All this will  simply allow for the Rich to get Richer and the Government to get more donations from grateful corporations who receive contracts! 

So, Quack Quack, Paddle Paddle, Strike Strike - The barristers/solicitors - criminal bar took to the streets and had their say last week about criminal justice reforms, and at the end of the month Probation Officers will have the same opportunity! Chris Grayling's plans for the criminal justice may be a transformation, but to workers and experts alike, it's certainly not a beautiful one, or even a positive one!