A year like no other - A Christmas message from Ian Hanson

Dear Colleagues,

As the year draws to an end I am going to state the obvious and say that 2012 has been like no other. Perhaps the only real positive to mark has been the fact that GMP played a massive part in the biggest peace time policing operation that the country has ever seen and did so with pride. This was done despite the abject failure of G4S and others motivated by financial greed who viewed the Olympic Games as nothing more than an opportunity to make as much money as possible for shareholders. That’s what sets us apart from the private sector and that is what this Government and their cronies sadly don’t understand - our stakeholders are our communities and we answer to the Crown.

ACT IN HASTE - REPENT AT LEISURE

The last week has proven to be an incredibly difficult time for police officers and in particular those who have found themselves massively disadvantaged by the Government`s assault upon our pensions. This is yet another example of the contempt that this Government holds the police service in and comes just after the closure of the Olympics where we bailed them out after their pals in the private security industry failed to deliver.

There is a lot of emotion and understandable anger amongst colleagues following the pensions announcement and we in GMP Federation completely understand that. However we also have to be realistic as to what the Federation can achieve, as well as being very clear in spelling out that our options were very limited during the discussions that were held on pensions. It may be useful to dispel a few rumours and set out the position we were presented with when the original plans were released. Firstly, and most importantly, the Police Federation have no negotiation rights whatsoever on the area