As we know, our current General Secretary doesn't acknowledge this blog so I'll take the following from Napo news published yesterday and circulated to all members by email as evidence of a bit of campaigning on his behalf:-
That Times article – Are the CRC contracts going to be terminated early?Members may be aware of an article published in 'The Times' newspaper yesterday in relation to the CRC contracts and the possibility that they may be terminated two years ahead of schedule by Ministers due to the ongoing failure of the Transforming Rehabilitation programme. As you would expect, I was able to establish contact yesterday morning with the author of the article Richard Ford, to check out the degree of certainty behind the report.
At this stage, Napo is not able to verify a story that in some respects is encouraging, but which is also highly speculative. Napo has a responsibility to ascertain the facts before raising members’ expectations unreasonably. I aim to use our close connections in the MoJ and in CRCs to establish the full picture as we approach the summer Parliamentary recess.
What is clear is that this story not only reflects the fact that Napo members in the NPS and CRCs have suffered the abject failure of the whole TR project, but also highlights one of many options we ourselves have been campaigning for, in what we obviously all hope is the beginning of the end of privatisation.
I will update members as soon as we know more about whether what has been reported becomes a certainty. What I can confirm is that many CRC members have been in touch to say how some providers have been falling over themselves to publically deny the scenario in the Times article while it is common knowledge that they are engaged in critical talks with the MoJ!
Napo working in Parliament
Meanwhile Napo will continue the campaign in parliament. The following and somewhat timely questions have been tabled on our behalf by Liz Saville-Roberts MP Plaid Cymru for next week’s Justice Questions session.
Asked by Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) Asked on: 13 June 2018
Ministry of Justice : Community Rehabilitation Companies 153415
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the timetable is for the next steps in his review of privatised probation services; and if he will make a statement.
Asked by Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) Asked on: 12 June 2018
Ministry of Justice : Community Rehabilitation Companies 152825
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what preparations he has made to safeguard essential services in the event of a Community Rehabilitation Company (a) running into financial difficulties, (b) going into administration and (c) wishing to terminate its contract.
Ministry of Justice : Community Rehabilitation Companies 153415
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the timetable is for the next steps in his review of privatised probation services; and if he will make a statement.
Asked by Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) Asked on: 12 June 2018
Ministry of Justice : Community Rehabilitation Companies 152825
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what preparations he has made to safeguard essential services in the event of a Community Rehabilitation Company (a) running into financial difficulties, (b) going into administration and (c) wishing to terminate its contract.
As pressure mounts on CRCs and with the possibility of an early end to the contracts, Napo will be briefing parliamentarians and the Justice Unions and Family Court Parliamentary Group to put further pressure on the Government. I have already written to the Probation Minister, Rory Stewart, demanding to know what is going on behind the scenes and seeking an urgent meeting. We will also be re-establishing our contact with the senior leadership in the Labour Party and Richard Burgon’s Justice team, who have pledged to work with us and other partners in mapping out the new vision for Probation.
Members will not pay the price for TR
Most importantly, Napo will defend our members and their jobs, despite whatever may emerge from the current Probation System Review and the Justice Select Committee’s awaited report. It is our member’s (and that includes manager members) in the CRCs and the NPS who have worked so hard to maintain professional standards in the face of adversity and to keep Probation from collapsing entirely. That is why I am reminding NPS leaders daily that we must see a start to meaningful pay negotiations before we commence legal action over a pay system that is inherently gender discriminatory.
This union remains ready to work with everyone to rebuild the service and shape the future, but we will not hesitate to expose a deeply flawed social experiment. Napo will ensure that our members are not blamed or used as scapegoats for what is a systematic failure based on political ideology that has wasted millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money.
Ian Lawrence
Napo General Secretary
--oo00oo--
Meanwhile, we are well aware that our current General Secretary appears to have made a conscious and some would say cynical decision not to engage in discussion or debate and has sought to frustrate the efforts of the contender Mike Rolfe by not supplying dates for possible branch meetings.
In addition, news now reaches me that several branches were hoping to organise a teleconference debate next week, but again the General Secretary has stated he is not available for any of the three suggested dates. I understand the contender signalled he could manage any of the dates, despite also having a full time job.
In the circumstances I think it is a reasonable conclusion to draw that the incumbent candidate is seeking to stifle open discussion and debate and therefore members must take this into account when deciding how best to cast their vote.
Interestingly, the following graph shows how there's renewed activity on the blog as a direct result of the Times story breaking on Thursday. Yesterday's blog post achieved over 1,000 hits, double the normal figure and for the second day running the daily total has been over 3,000.
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Footnote
Oh dear, looks like our General Secretary is so rattled he's resorting to personal abuse. Thanks to the reader for spotting this Facebook exchange:-
Interestingly, the following graph shows how there's renewed activity on the blog as a direct result of the Times story breaking on Thursday. Yesterday's blog post achieved over 1,000 hits, double the normal figure and for the second day running the daily total has been over 3,000.
--oo00oo--
Footnote
Oh dear, looks like our General Secretary is so rattled he's resorting to personal abuse. Thanks to the reader for spotting this Facebook exchange:-
Napo is not usually out of the blocks so quickly. Nor did I realise that it was in the verification business. IL says he wants to safeguard members from 'rising expectations' as though anyone out there was interpreting the Times story as the beginning of the end of privatisation. Nonetheless, he chooses to link the imagined rising expectations with the end of privatisation, knowing that to be a fallacy. He also writes about 'close connections' in the corridors of power, but these have not yielded anything of substance in the past five years. In effect he tells us nothing that was not already known, but our intrepid leader could not resist the temptation to put himself at the heart of a news story to flaunt his close connections. Pity he did not use his close connections before signing-up for the TR split and the various promises about no redundancies. That was when verification was truly needed. But, of course, at that time he wasn't running a re-election campaign.
ReplyDelete6.49 I agree with the problems you have identified but not the entire source of these problems.
DeleteAll trade unions have checks and balances in decision making and NAPO is no different. Where are the officers and the officers group in influencing action and doing what best reflects the interests of the members? Personally, I have no time for any of them but nevertheless they still have duties and responsibilities.
Both the GS and the officers group are accountable to the NEC. So what have the NEC done to ensure that NAPO has a strategy to deal with all these attacks? In my experience, NEC members don't want to take responsibility for these things.
In addition to all of this, NAPO has an AGS and paid national officials. The AGS at least should be bringing his professional knowledge and skills to support the GS.
My point is this. All these people have a responsibility to make an input, not just the GS and to blame him for their shortcomings doesn't seem right to me.
The whole set-up is totally dysfunctional and I understand the GS and AGS can barely stand being in the same room together.
Deleteis this true what about the massive salary the are paid and required professional assessments no wonder it is so poor.
DeleteJim - this just isn't good enough! They are well paid to behave like professionals not having childlike tantrums. Get on with the job! The GS is the AGS' line manager for goodness sake. He needs to do his job
DeleteHow do we know this is true?
DeleteWe have no idea how our membership subs fund the poor performance and yet if this is true what action is the GS taking with the AGS over such an appalling claim how can you say this JB tell us what the truth is please or are you colluding against the current for Rolf?
DeleteI think it would be extremely embarrassing to try and claim success in any of the leaked report, it clearly looks like the deckchairs are just being re-arranged between the privateers. This is not the end of TR or privatisation and to try and claim any success by IL seems like a cheap attempt to gain votes after years of inactivity on his behalf!
ReplyDeleteCould someone please identify ANYTHING positive that Ian Lawrence has achieved for NAPO members in the past 5 years as I can't thing of anything.
ReplyDeleteIt is not all IL it has to be the dud chairs leaderships and the appalling VC groups that come intransigent gone and some are still hanging around. Not to mention the failing and absent staff groups that we hear nothing official from at all. If the GS has failed much else it is certainly an inability to manage the NAPO structure.
DeleteYes it's a complete failure to get a grip on things on the part of the Co-Chairs - but then how can things run well with responsibilities shared and based over 200 miles from London?
DeleteMy message to Mike Rolfe is that he absolutely needs to make PAY the central platform of his campaign. Wider issues like the financing of NAPO, OMiC, TR, the role of the Probation Institute, deprofessionalisation, etc are important to a small number of people on this blog, but I genuinely believe the vast majority of the workforce / NAPO electorate no longer care about such issues. What the majority care about is the fact their mortgages, rent, energy, petrol, food costs and taxes continue to rise, whilst wages have been stagnant. People are angry about pay and I think you need to tap into that anger. To slightly amend the famous quote associated with the 1992 Clinton Presidential campaign, "it's about wages, stupid"!
ReplyDeleteI think you are dead right. Too often Napo's missives throw in a postscript on pay – usually with a empty threat of a ballot...'if this is what the members tell us they want'. Pay is fundamental and all the other ivory tower stuff comes after the basics have been met. Also, pay is the easiest element to measure and verify. When IL was asked by the Justice Select Committee about salary ranges for probation staff, he did not have the information to hand. Trade union leaders need to have 'close connections' with the budgets of their members.
DeleteFor those unable to view the screenshot on smart phones, the exchange is as follows:-
ReplyDeleteWho's your opponent(s) Ian?
Ian Lawrence - Michael Rolfe check him out on FB ex Socialist party Trot. Masquerading for Labour, chancer and maverick. You'll see that his GS is endorsing me!
We knew that. Getafix outed him earlier in the week
DeleteNo surprise there then
don't know whether this is a bit of smearing from the dirty tricks brigade. When did socialism become a dirty word? I note IL is also being supported by John McDonnell who is also unashamed about his Marxist roots – and IL is happy to receive his marxist support.
DeleteFrom McDonnell's Wikipaedia
In 2006, McDonnell said that "Marx, Lenin and Trotsky" were his "most significant" intellectual influences.[77] In the past, McDonnell has been open about his support for Marxism by saying to his supporters "I'm straight up, I'm honest with people. I'm a Marxist". However, during an interview with Andrew Marr, McDonnell was asked "are you a Marxist?", and replied: "I believe there's a lot to learn from reading Kapital, yes of course there is, and that's been recommended not just by me but many others, mainstream economists as well".[78] He has also said: "I will be the first socialist Labour Chancellor".[79]
Jim where did that exchange between IL and Anon take place plse? I think it's appalling for him to have made such derogatory remarks
DeleteDisgusting, not the qualities of a GS, more that of a desperate man!
DeleteThe exchange is on IL's Facebook account but it's not public - I guess you need IL to authorise you as a friend first - I won't try as I guess he's unlikely to authorise me.
DeleteIt may be of course that these comments in support of SWP come from SWP supporters themselves. There is a huge difference between being a Labour Party member and an activist in the SWP. My experience of the SWP is that they are destructive. One thing I confident of, NAPO members do not want the SWP running NAPO. In the event of MR winning the election, I bet there's a plan to put one of their own in as Chair.
DeleteYes in the form of the previous and naïve do nothing Vice chairs return no doubt. Knows little's delivers less.
DeleteFrom Wikipedia " Rolfe identifies as a socialist, however he was quick to make clear his views are not entirely left wing in an interview with the Morning Star and that he does not share entirely the same political ideology of Democratic Socialists such as Jeremy Corbyn." See following from POA on his stepping down:
Deletehttp://www.poauk.org.uk/index.php?circulars&newsdetail=20170503-9_resignation-of-national-chair-mr-mike-rolfe
In respect of post above who writes: " One thing I confident of, NAPO members do not want the SWP running NAPO. In the event of MR winning the election, I bet there's a plan to put one of their own in as Chair." All members have a vote for National Officers so they only people who "put" someone in position of Chair are the members. You are confident that you know Napo members don't want the SWP "running" Napo (there is a NEC and umpteen Branches involved in "running" the Union too incidentally) so you've nothing to worry about have you?
DeleteHave tidied this contribution up:-
DeleteRESIGNATION OF NATIONAL CHAIR MR MIKE ROLFE
The National Executive Committee were formally informed on Monday 1st May 2017, that the National Chair had applied and was selected as a Parliamentary Candidate for a political party in the forthcoming General Election.
The Rules for Civil Servants standing as Parliamentary candidates is clear that they need to resign during the Parliamentary process, which the National Chair did today with HMPPS and was effective from today.
The NEC held a Special NEC meeting this afternoon as our Rules and Constitution are clear in relation to being a full member and we reluctantly accepted his resignation from the position of National Chair after receiving an email dated 3rd May 2017, tendering his resignation as National Chair.
The NEC placed on record their thanks and gratitude for all the hard work that Mike Rolfe had done whilst not just as National Chair, but as an NEC member as well.
The Executive wish Mike every success in the future. In his resignation email a request was made to address Annual Conference and the NEC believe this would be appropriate at the end of business on Thursday 11th May 2017 and this offer has been made to Mike Rolfe, which he has accepted.
In the meantime, it is business as usual with Mark Fairhurst Vice Chair now Acting National Chair and Terry Fullerton NEC Member Acting Vice Chair.
I know the membership will wish Mike Rolfe all the very best for the future and wish Acting
National Chair Mark Fairhurst a successful Annual Conference.
Yours sincerely
STEVE GILLAN
General Secretary
So much for the thank you and best wishes for the future then...maybe all GS's are as bad as each other...self serving and desperate when it comes to re-election???
I bet he didn’t say that when he welcomed MR to Napo AGM a few years ago - when MR was a guest speaker !!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteNot very professional to publically name call his opponent-
What is wrong with what is said seems reasonable to me. Your comment as wet and pathetic as you and your NAPO following wimp style ilk would want no wonder your downtrodden beaten up and wasted. Lost on all front because you wont have any sort of battle even a mild exchange like that . WEAK !
DeleteI think your comment is weak! If you think name calling and division is ever going to improve anyone's lot then you are sadly mistaken!
DeleteFound this from Mike Rolfe under GS election 9 on this blog;
ReplyDelete"Following the election campaign in June 2017 and on my return to HMP Elmley as a Prison Officer I was informed that the POA GS was informing members that I was banned from standing for Office for 9 years until 2026. I immediately wrote to the NEC to clarify their position. In a response the GS told me that I was banned from standing for Office. I knew that this was clearly a case of discrimination against me as both the General Secretary and one of the Assistant Secretaries had both stood for elected seats in 2015. The GS stood for Labour (same as me) and the AS for TUSC. There are no rules within the POA that prevented any member from standing for political positions of their choice. I requested that the POA reconsidered their position but they refused my request and offered me no avenue of appeal. I also discovered that the POA NEC had taken steps to cancel my membership and I immediately restarted my membership.
At this point I think it is important that I give some context to the type of person I am. I have and will never allow anyone to bully or intimidate me, many have tried but none have been successful. From before I took the Chair position I had been subjected to attempts to bully and intimidate me from an individual by denigration and undermining my work for members usually by email, again I still have copies. I had faced each of these attempts to bully me head on and I believed that I had sufficiently prevented that individual from attempting to do so ever again, however I was wrong. Whilst I will not name any individuals in this post it will not be hard for Napo members to work out for themselves who I am referring to and should they wish to read the endorsements under Ian’s election statement then they can confirm for themselves who clearly wants to ensure that I fail in this election."
Guess that would explain why Ian is being endorsed by Stephen Gillan of the POA! Can't remember the GS of the POA ever getting involved in our elections before?
Nor anyone else and not a a contest like this from a two time wider party any party for power loser like Mr Rolfe. Careerist and opportunist and a cheap rate 40 something contender with ZERO absolutky ZERO probation experience. No interviews experience no case management experience just lock em in . This is not a suitable candidate. I am not blinkered Mr Lawrence has a real lack of many talents except self promotion and absent talent but he did win a post at advertisement and became the GS under competitive process so you get what you asked for. On that tone MR is worse he has less than any relevant experience than the incumbent will cost NAPO 225K before you start and then he could and no one individual can move napo forwards whilst you have the most incompetent pair of chairs in any trade union history and worse still the come in the form of the wannabee of the officers group this election. None of them show any sign of any achievement over any period and all too inexperienced for the onslaught of the way this government policy has been unfolded. Too many well wishing want to be nice PO styled we are so cleaver and look at the tragedy to PO colleagues over the years . The rule is POs don't make good trade unionists and nor do Turn Key Prison officers. Nor does the incumbent but we have to deal with the incompetence of the top table and some of the appalling officials that actually support what has happened by working with the government proposals .
DeleteAt the end of the day, all I and the vast majority of staff want is a large pay increase. I couldn't give less of a s**t whether a candidate has 40 years Probation experience or 0 years. All I want is somebody with a track record of delivering pay increases. The question every member should ask themselves before voting is "am I better off than I was 5 years ago?" If the answer is yes, then vote for Lawrence. If the answer is no, then vote for Rolfe.
DeleteCan we return our conversations to Labours solidarity movement please
DeleteThen raise the scarlet standard high.
Within its shade we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red flag flying here.
I see no mention of the socialist party in any of the information I have seen about MR...is this more poisonous posts? Shouldn't we ask rather than assume? Doesn't seem very educated just to make assumptions without any proof to support the claim, and just because someone has taken to writing in the socialist, which clearly is not MR, then it seems we should see what he has to say in response?
DeleteMr Berry ex VC is Mr Rolfs sponsor and who wrote the article and is a known but not very able claimed socialist. All said do we need to Arthur Conan Doyle in to rewrite a Sherlock script so the silly side can see the linkages to a small group of the doing Ian Lawrence down brigade.
DeleteRolfe himself has admitted being in TUSC just prior to joining the Labour party and standing as parliamentary candidate. The SWP are leading activists in the TOSC.
Delete16:50. IL did not win through any process different to the current one. He was employed as an assistant general secretary; after Ledger, he acted up and was later elected.
ReplyDeleteHe did he won his post at interview cmon ?
DeleteThe post writer at 16.50 can barely string 2 words together. Neither a coherent defence or attack. I sincerely hope this person is not employed in either Family Courts or Probation!
ReplyDeleteWhy not I read it understood the points and though clearly an irritated poster. It takes all sorts to work in Probation but it reads like you just want your sort. Perhaps that's why Probation is lost to the Tories in wimp.
Delete"Perhaps that's why Probation is lost to the Tories in wimp"; could you explain what "Tories in wimp" means?
ReplyDeleteGuarantee you lot work for the NPS, you'd argue with your own shadow!
ReplyDeleteMove to the darkside on CRC we don't argue, we just sit rocking in our chairs! Haha