Where was the main stream media though? Like many people, I've been astounded at the lack of reporting on TV and radio and for the first time ever, have lodged a complaint with the BBC. But could it partly be due to this?:-
Local publicity has been great. Well done Napo members who have worked really hard at a local level: radio interviews, pictures, online newspapers, paper newspapers (who'd have thought of such a thing?!), blogs, twitter we've been on top of it all (this despite rather a late national press release to work with).
Tania Bassett we've kept our end of the bargain how about yours? Where's the national media coverage from today's rallies? Is there a problem we can help with? Let us know because something's going wrong with the national media coverage and if we can help we will!
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We could get you a prèss officer who can do the job perhaps? Where was Elfyn our star campaigner and leading MP and lawyer who had interest in both strikes today? He was to speak too. I would rather have heard from him as he has done us proud.
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Great rally today well done to everyone who got themselves their today - Tanya - get yourself some public speaking tuition your the face of NAPO now in place of Harry Fletcher, only we don't see you and we don't hear you.
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Great photos, and to see we are still fighting to the end, but where is the national media coverage for today? Nothing on the national news tonight, will there be tomorrow? Teachers, firemen even dustmen get national media coverage, why can't we? One begins to wonder if there had been national media coverage from the start then things may have been somewhat different today. What is the problem is it Napo or government screening? Surely we deserve better media coverage?!!!!!!!!!!
Something is clearly wrong with this side of things at Chivalry Road and it needs fixing fast. And yes, what about those missing speakers? What happened there?
Where was Sadiq Khan today? Wasn't he meant to be speaking at the London Rally? I'm pretty sure I saw him being interviewed for something or other around the corner at 1.45pm so if he was in the area why didn't he come? Anyone know?
A couple of people have picked up on what the General Secretary had to say:-
Ian Lawrence at the London Rally today: "The thing about me... If I say something I mean it. We are going for a Judicial Review win lose or draw. You'd expect it, that's what we're doing."
I'm sure some might be tempted to say 'yes you've said that before - just bloody get on with it!' But then I'm getting increasingly irritated with the obvious dysfunctionality of things at the top. We have a dog and a tail - I'm just not sure who's wagging what any more.
In the interests of unity and ensuring that the last two days of action were as successful as possible, I've been biting my tongue on a number of issues to do with Napo because our fight has to be with Grayling and the government, not between ourselves. Everyone knows the dangers of in-fighting and how it can only assist our detractors, but someone, the Chair, has got to get a grip on things and 'bang a few heads' together, and fast.
May I suggest they start with the rumour that Harry Fletcher's services are being dispensed with rather sooner than later? This seems rather fool-hardy given his obvious expertise in relation to both Parliament and the press. Clearly there is still mileage in the former and the latter needs sorting as outlined above.
As if the TR omnishambles isn't depressing enough, I find it painful to write in this vein as everywhere you look the wheels are coming off the whole damned idiotic 'plan' and we should be straining every sinew to take advantage of Grayling's misfortunes. We know that potential bidders are dropping out fast, the timetable is impossible and the MoJ are utterly hopeless at dealing with one contract, let alone 21 of them. Right now we need a clear plan as to how we take advantage of all this, together with some clear, decisive leadership at the top.
Found Mr. Khan here talking about how labour would favour bidders for MoJ contracts.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/news/1143192/shadow-justice-minister-id-favour-contractors-offer-opportunitities-offenders
A Labour government would "favour" contractors that provide employment opportunities to ex-offenders when bidding for Ministry of Justice (MoJ) work, shadow secretary of state for justice Sadiq Khan has said.
DeleteSpeaking at a Responsible Business Week session on recruiting ex-offenders, Khan said if Labour was elected in 2015 he would introduce a tendering system that considered whether potential MoJ contractors discriminated against people with criminal convictions.
“[If] their bids are broadly similar, but [one organisation] is not a progressive company taking on people with convictions and [the other] is – [the second organisation] would get the contract," Khan said.
“What I hope that would do in relation to [the first organisation] is they see there is bias towards companies taking on people with convictions and they look to do that.”
Khan said he wanted the MoJ to "set the pace" in Westminster so he "could use this as moral leverage to other Cabinet colleagues to get their departments to do the same”.
Although his aim is to end employment discrimination against ex-offenders, Khan stressed not all roles in business and government suited people with certain criminal convictions, and it was up to organisations to apply appropriate risk assessments in recruitment.
Ban the Box Encouraging organisations to ban discrimination against prisoners is at the heart of the Ban the Box campaign, in which organisations remove criminal disclosure tick-boxes from job applications. Economist and Prisonomics author Vicky Pryce, who spent two months in prison over taking former husband and cabinet minister Chris Huhne’s motoring penalty points, is a strong advocate of providing employment opportunities to ex-offenders. Pryce told delegates that employment would help tackle the high number of re-offenders clogging up UK prisons, which is estimated to cost the economy between £9.5 billion to £13 billion each year. Research shows that 68% of prisoners believe employment is vital for rehabilitation but only 26% who leave prisons enter work. “The most important thing in terms of reducing crime and re-offending is education and employment,” she said. “Working, contributing to the economy will reduce the cost to the Exchequer… Every employer that gets involved in [Banning the Box] is contributing something to society.” Pryce believes that recruitment should be about skills and aptitude, rather than prejudice. She also took a swipe at a recent Government proposal to ban books being sent to prisoners, saying that a large proportion of the prison community have a sub-standard level of education. “A lot of the people who end up in prison are already socially and educationally disadvantaged... banning the books makes absolutely no sense,” she said. Pryce questioned the social and economic rationale of sending re-offenders repeatedly back to jail; suggesting if the NHS were run like the criminal justice system, hospitals would shut down because “we keep sending people back for the same operation… and after a while you close them down and think again”.
Sadiq snuggling up with Chris Huhne's ex Vicky Pryce and the bidders? Maybe he had a dinner date yesterday?
DeleteNo excuses for NAPO, but is there perhaps a bigger picture? The Justice Alliance + solicitors & barristers were also there, still no media coverage. Complaining to the media companies might well be a good idea. Someone yesterday mentioned Grayling's past links to BBC & the world of media management... Maybe some favours were called in?
ReplyDeleteAnd the lack of any MPs presence was puzzling - whats really going on here? Who kept them away and why?
Welease the Judicial Weview.
Guardian coverage here
Deletehttp://www.theguardian.com/law/2014/apr/01/solicitors-no-new-cases-legal-aid-protest
Solicitors are threatening to turn away new criminal cases destined for the crown court in an escalation of protests over cuts to legal aid. The boycott – intended to gridlock the criminal justice system – was announced at the end of a two-day walkout in England and Wales in conjunction with probation officers, who are protesting against Ministry of Justice plans to privatise offender rehabilitation services.
DeleteAround 400 probation staff and solicitors rallied outside parliament on Tuesday before marching on the ministry in central London. The day had been chosen because 1 April is the birthday of the justice secretary, Chris Grayling.
Demonstrators shouldered a giant effigy of Grayling and carried placards declaring "Unhappy Birthday, April Fool." They chanted: "Save legal aid" and "Probation is not for sale".
There were fewer protesters than last month, when barristers joined solicitors in protest against the MoJ's plan to cut £215m from the government's annual legal aid budget. Criminal barristers have now called off their action after the department agreed to delay most cuts to advocacy fees until after the election.
Explaining the need intensify the dispute, Nicola Hill, president of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association, said: "Action in the courts hurts the justice secretary like nothing else. Unless the courts grind to a halt, Mr Grayling just doesn't listen. It's time to be radical … Not only will we not be instructing barristers in crown courts, nor will solicitor advocates take on new legal aid cases. It is hoped that some short-term pain will bring long-term gain to the criminal justice system."
The refusal to take on fresh cases could have a severe impact on criminal barristers' ability to work.
The LCCSA and the Criminal Law Solicitors Association (CLSA) are also initiating a judicial review challenge of the MoJ's consultation exercise in order to halt the cuts.
Ian Lawrence, general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said: "The government plan to outsource 70% of the probation service is untried and untested. It is a dangerous social experiment that we believe will lead to a reduction in rehabilitation."
I totally agree something untoward is up in relation to media cover. What we need is a good journalist working for BBC or ITV or popular national newspaper (come on how many of us buy the Guardian?) to put together a detailed article or a documentary on how this all started, the lies, corruption, lack of media cover and recognition of what a world wide respected organisation we are guiding other probation offices worldwide as to how to work to our expertise. COME ON THERE MUST BE SOMEONE OUT THERE IT IS NOT TOO MUCH TO ASK !!!!!!!!!
DeleteI didn't come out on strike because I have no respect for my union. We are led by people who frankly don't inspire. I didn't like the way Tom Rendon replaced a good London Gen Sec. in Bron Roberts. I don't like the way he grandstands. There is a clique who can't accept what happened to the previous Gen. Sec. and imo won't be happy until Harry Fletcher has no further role to play but frankly he is the only profile known in the press. I kept 11/2 days pay and put it in my pension fund. Totally self interested granted....just like our uninspiring leadership clique have been!
ReplyDeleteThat old saying two wrongs don't make a right springs to mind anonymous 07:28. That's generally feeble reasoning at the best of times and often justification enough for many of the People we work with.
DeleteNapo have not inspired me, nor has their campaign been very effective yet, in my opinion, but the government iw blatantly dismantling our profession and I think we need to stand together to show them that's simply unacceptable.
At some point there should be an independent review of Napo's industrial relations strategy, the handling of the employment tribunal fallout, its office culture and dynamics and its appointment of key personnel.
DeleteYes there should but the NEC waived its chance to hold them properly to account with important questions. To cover it up they suspended 3 NEC reps or so never been heard of in NAPO history. The Chair never got other unions to join the fight despite his pledge and it seems as far as strategy what strategy ! No one knows what officials are responsible for. A PR official who is invisible and able is another question. The pay off is a disgrace when disciplinary action was the only appropriate route followed by a resignation was obvious. Both the joint chairs could have prevented the whole mess but had not the skills to navigate the issues and here we are now embattled with government same leadership. Recruitment from within its own ranks and the same old cronies Napo is in trouble deep if you actually thought they could let this inquiry happen.
DeleteNapo members are the victims of spin not substance pity.
The only way these criticisms of Napo will go away is when they are addressed. The payoff to JL was was no different to the payoffs we deplore when they happen in other places. It was member's subscriptions that were squandered and I say squandered because JL should have been held to account by the union's own procedures, but he was exempted. Maybe this is how friends like look after each other, but generosity should not extend to spending other peoples' money. I wouldn't mind if everyone was similarly excused and indulged but in this unfair world, double standards proliferate. It's just that you hope a trade union will set a higher moral and professional bar for itself.
DeleteThen resign and join one that you do respect...simples
DeleteDon't worry I have been....... but no mention in the national press is very telling! The strike turnout was thin. Harry Fletcher in a studio was what was needed. People view NAPO as a pressure group...not a union! Not one person in my office even mentioned the strike...never mind walked out. Lots of photos of Westminister MC turnout does not cover for the fact that turnout generally was a lot worse than in November ...thereby weakening our position. That was obvious at the time the decision was made. Totally tactically inept imo!
ReplyDeleteWhat does "Don't worry I have been.." refer to? I don't know what your basis is for saying "turnout was thin"-if you are Napo member,did you take part in any action? I was in Manchester & combined presence of legal staff and otbers from TUC was very encouraging.
DeleteWell done to everyone who supported the strike yesterday, who stayed true to the principles of what it means to belong to a trade union, who respected the legitimate call to strike as sanctioned through a free and legal vote, who understand the value and importance of collective action and gave their time to picketing and supporting the various ralleys nationwide, who were willing to support their colleagues from the Justice Alliance in the fight to keep justice free for all and free of any profit motive.
ReplyDeleteDeb
Our Media is controlled by big corporations we have been covered by Russia Today in the past, perhaps we should contact them again. Not on TV or Radio I thinks means that politicians are running scared and big business wants to close down all debate.
ReplyDeletepapa
It was a legitimate strike, but was it the right call? Where does this particular strike stand in the overall strategy? There are those in probation who are admirably principled, but the low turnout merely shows they are a dwindling minority. There was a low turnout in the indicative ballot and in the ballot proper. It was risky holding a second strike, particularly as the MoJ could easily say Napo had signed up to a staff protection agreement. The strike was not about bringing the MoJ to the negotiating table. It was about Napo's visceral dislike of the privatisation agenda, but the public know all about that and so its not something that grabs much attention these days.
ReplyDeleteWill there be more strikes? I don't think so and I think the last one was a mistake, especially as there was no Unison involvement.
The Napo leadership said the strike action was 'vital'. Napo should now provide a post-strike analysis and tell us what the next actions will be. They should also stop this pretence about restricting communications because they need to keep their secret strategy from prying MoJ eyes.
In my opinion the strike was the last hurrah and the funeral symbolism at the protests and the header here of Post Mortem, reinforces a sense of ending. It was probation's 'rage against the dying of the light'.
....'Raging against the dying of the light may be like baying at the moon but both can be cathartic and act as a rallying call, bring hope that somewhere out in the darkness there's one piece of information that can topple the flimsy edifice.....
DeleteYou know I think it was as much about the need to find a reason to pull together, support each other, celebrate, bond, do something, do anything than it being part of a clear strategy - although that in itself would count as being 'strategic' in my book. For those that took part, I think it's been therapeutic and necessary.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about the turnout being slim or not - and in a sense I don't think it matters as for me the hundreds of photos say pretty much all that needs to be said and for this reason I'll probably be publishing a few more. It may not have achieved a great deal in terms of stopping TR, but it can't have done any harm in supporting the legal profession in their battle with Grayling and I think it made quite a lot of probation staff feel a lot better about themselves and their situation. For those that chose not to take part, I'm not so sure.
Napo needs to use its wider pool of talent and fast
ReplyDeleteThere appears to be a certain arrogance in evidence at Chivalry Road that they know what they are doing and everyone else can take a running jump and in the absence of clarity many Napo branches have simply done their own thing media wise with varying degrees of success.
Yesterday Tania Bassett stood resolutely on the platform throughout waving a clipboard that literally had a list of names on it whilst some members of the media were prowling around the edge of the crowd trying to find someone to interview or indeed a press officer to talk to. They are busy people and they want to grab the gist get a couple of quotes and go.
The event smacked of enthusiastic amateurism rather than professionalism. The timing of the rally was too late as it missed the 1 o'clock news and deadlines for The Guardian etc. So don't complain about media coverage if you don't put an event on at the right time.
Press officers don't act as MC's they delegate this to someone else such as that nice guy Ranjit or that new guy Dean whilst they deal with the journalists and get on the phone.
Professionals would have set up a little gazebo nearby as a media hub in case it rains and have ready made press releases ready and had people at hand to give interviews like your invited speakers - like more polished events on the same site. Have a proper PA system that people can hear - I've heard better sound coming from a megaphone.
Did Tania or anyone at Chivalry Road think to contact the NUJ for example for advice? Is Napo even in discussions with them as fellow trade unionists? There was nothing on their website and there are plenty of freelancers looking for a story.
Ian Lawrence is no doubt a really nice bloke (a good guy) but let's be honest he is no front-man and unfortunately those in the media are very quick to sort out who they want to interview and whether they are prime time or filler not surprisingly other General Secretaries who realise this find someone who is easy on the eye and smooth talking enough for prime time and I am sorry to say that no one currently at Chivalry Road currently ticks the boxes and fits the bill. There are actually plenty of people in Napo who have been around a while and do present well but Chivalry Road don't seem to be capable of biting the bullet, changing direction, and using the available talent (which is essential when dealing with the media). The speakers that were of most interest are practitioners because they had something different to say. We need more stories from the front line
It is no use hankering after criminal justice consultant and face of probation Harry Fletcher as he is now hired help and they take or leave his advice but without his heavy weight presence things were certainly a bit lacking in media management department. One thing Harry knew only too well is that there is no such thing as a free lunch so you have to entice the media in with the promise of rich pickings and not just whinge when they don't turn up. They need to be looked after and that means early doors, a clear strong story line with a twist, a snappy press release with some new stuff, a quick photo or interview op with someone interesting, then away to meet a deadline.
If the Chivalry Road team can't handle these events then they should approach a bigger union that can because these opportunities are too good to miss.
How about hiring a PR firm PDQ?
DeleteHear hear!
DeleteToo right. Having seen photos from Westminster it would have made excellent national news and also front page news. The public need to know about the stupidity of Grayling and what an idiot he is. Someone please help us to get the public to be aware of his foolery and ignorance. TR was invented out of Grayling's head. a head which has no idea about criminality, research studies or the need for pilots, the idiot just says it is going ahead regardless.
Deleteps look what has happened to Royal Mail after being sold off cheap their shares are worth little. Will we be worth little in the future and our clients seen as worthless. This has to stop.
Anon at 18.53 said " TR was invented out of Grayling's head."
DeleteI think not - it is mentioned in a Conservative Party Policy Document in 2008 - which it self refers back to the when Michael Howard was Home Secretary - admittedly interest had waxed and waned since - including by the Labour Party who cheated us by not being tough on the causes of crime - at least as far as rehabilitation of those convicted.
http://www.napo2.org.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=601&sid=f634036365b45ac16fccf77dd4da8471
Interesting article here, more so because it's in the torygraph. But no mention for probation.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10737170/Its-not-just-prison-books-that-are-under-threat-its-British-justice.html
Later this week, an unwelcome letter will land on the desk of Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary. Its signatories, who are expected to include the novelists Julian Barnes and Ian McEwan, will urge him to revoke his ban on sending books to prisoners. That communication, coupled with an earlier threat by campaigners to take their battle to the courts, will dash any hope Mr Grayling might have harboured that a strange political furore would fade as quickly as it started.
ReplyDeleteIn the manner of many lethal storms, the row blew out of nowhere. Rules imposed last November to stop prisoners receiving parcels from outside attracted no notice until the Howard League for Penal Reform highlighted their existence. Last Friday, the cream of Britain’s literati flocked to Pentonville prison in north London to denounce a measure that one claimed would damage “the soul of the country”.
Pentonville is not used to celebrity attention. It is doubtful whether many, if any, of the demonstrators had ever stepped inside its doors. Had they done so, they would have found a spartan institution not much changed from its inception, in 1842, as a warehouse for those who would previously have been hanged or transported.
The routines of Pentonville, and of every prison in the land, are normally of supreme uninterest to outsiders. On the day of the writers’ protest, a riot (or “a bout of concerted ill-discipline”, in Ministry of Justice-speak) broke out at HMP Northumberland. On the previous weekend, Doncaster prison erupted. Neither episode attracted the slightest notice.
And yet England’s prisoners – an implausible focus for a populist campaign – have become the martyrs of the literary world. They achieved that status partly because self-improvement and education are totemic British values. Whether Mr Grayling has “breached the 1688 Bill of Rights”, as the barrister offering to fight him in the courts has claimed, remains to be seen. Restricting access to Proust (or to jailhouse rock, since Mr Grayling has also banned steel-stringed guitars from cells) may or may not meet that criterion.
The books row has, however, offered a rare glimpse of the breaking heart of English justice. Unfair treatment of prisoners is only one aspect of a justice deficit that should alarm every law-abiding citizen in the land. Next year is the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, the bill of rights hammered out between King John and his barons. Buried in its text is the brief section that has made the charter a lodestar to upholders of justice down the centuries: “No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights and possessions, or outlawed, or exiled… except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.”
Today, in post-recession Britain, those precepts have rarely looked less secure. Justice is under threat not only in our over-crowded prisons but also on other unprotected frontiers. The dismantling of legal aid – long viewed as an easy political hit – has, for example, produced barely a tremor of protest beyond the legal profession. Politicians have calculated, correctly, that voters worried about health and education lose little sleep over access to justice.
And so multiple cuts have left family courts in chaos, made citizens more vulnerable to arbitrary power, deprived victims of redress and made miscarriages of justice more likely. Stephen Lawrence’s family, as their lawyer has reminded us, might never have had a hearing if today’s cutbacks had been in force. As Andrew Neilson, of the Howard League, says, “Justice is lurching towards crisis.”
Never underestimate the willingness of individuals to put self-interest before principles. Like many, I have been appalled at the lack of engagement by Probation staff and wonder what it would take to get them motivated but I do find the repeated criticisms of NAPO to be misdirected and uninformed. The lack of national coverage (although I did hear it mentioned on BBC Breakfast) was mitigated by the massive local coverage (I was given a good few minutes of airtime on my local BBC Radio station). The halcyon days of Harry's media presence are, to my mind, at least a little rose-tinted and there is no evidence that he would have had any better a response given the pressures of securing air time on mainstream media. As for strategy, I am not altogether sure what critics have in mind for an alternative approach. I have some thoughts on what I may have preferred to see happen but having a different view is not the same as considering the National Officers to be worthy of censure and I have seen nothing that justifies the swathes of resignations the preceded the strike. I just think people who didn't want to lose a day's pay are trying to enobilise their decision as something other than self-interest.
ReplyDeleteIt's remarkable how there are never any shortages of principles when it comes to resigning!
DeleteThere is a good report and Video on International Business Times on their You Tube Page - though I cannot find it in their main web pages.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMghnGLzgkI#t=35
Most informative is Sadiq Khan's interview in that Human Relations website - he clearly seems committed to continue commercialisation of probation work as before I suspected.
I see his speech from last June seems to have been reissued but otherwise there is nothing else new or of interest from Labour. The LibDems nationally seem to now be saying nothing about criminal justice services and at last Simon Hughes seems to have well and truly taken the Cameron shilling - so they are all going to go down together in UK elections with just those with strong local connections likely to survive beyond the General Election. Hughes national political involvement began in controversy, did he did he not approve of the personal denigration of Peter Tatchell because of his homosexuality - now he seems likely to end it with the benefits of being an ex Government minister and earning a salary on top of his salary as an MP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjs5iAm8p1c
Politically I think Probation's best support at elections will come from Independents like Joanna Hughes and Green Party candidates.
I think the way forward is to develop a public service political party which aims for as much work as viable in all monopoly services, infrastructure and utilities to be delivered primarily by workers employed publicly on secure contracts with the reassurance of a good pension such as LGPS and major encouragement needs to be given to workers to join employers pension schemes as that means they are less likely to need 'welfare' support in old age.
Inside Time Star Letter from prisoner: -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.insidetime.org/mailbag.asp?a=1441&c=star_letter_of_the_monththank_you_very_much_mr_grayling_for_your_rehabilitation_revolution#.UzxgE92kNnA.twitter
"From Dean West - HMP Wayland
I am writing regarding the new IEP system and facilities list the Right Honourable Chris Grayling MP has implemented across the prison estate. I would like to personally thank him as it has completely revolutionised the way I think about offending. I would go as far as to say I am now 100% rehabilitated!
Before you came along I could have a 3-pack of boxer shorts sent in and this prison lark was a proper breeze. Crime actually paid! That's if you could call this place a jail; it was only a roller coaster away from winning the 'luxury holiday camp of the year' award. I would be sitting in my luxurious cell, feet up (whilst all those 'strivers' were at work), watching SKY Sports on my big HD TV, living the fecking life of Riley with my homemade mouse spread crackers and a big bowl of crispy cockroaches I bought off a scouser.
Now though, I'm a changed man, this cutting down on how much underwear we are allowed in possession is absolutely out-ofthe- box thinking - I don't know why prison reformers haven't thought of this before in order to aid rehabilitation! It has really made me wake up and smell the prison-issue coffee sachets with their 0.007% caffeine. So thank you Mister Christopher Grayling for changing my life and rehabilitating me. I am going to make myself a hat out of the sleeve of a prison-issue jumper just so that I can take it off to you, you absolute genius! Three cheers for Chris Grayling's rehabilitation revolution, the world is now a safer place!"
Love it
Delete