News Item
A good start to the New Year for Teesside and Durham Probation
Members of Cohort 10 in Teesside and Durham received an early Christmas present - a permanent contract.
In an email from the two Chief Officers, the 17 received the news that they would be taken on pemenantly. The news comes following months of campaigning both locally, regionally and nationally.
In October, Gemma Frostwick (Teesside Branch) and Julie McShane (Durham Branch) joined a delegation of cohort 10 to lobby Jack Straw in Parliament. Just two days after this meeting the Minister announced a significant reduction in the originally outlined cut in Probation budgets. In this statement Jack Straw made specific mention of the work of the unions, and also made strong reference to the employment of Trainee Probation Officers. This follows months of lobbying in Parliament by Napo, and monthly meetings with Jack Straw where this issue was raised.
Mike Quinn, National Vice Chair of Napo, said "This news is a testament to the hard work carried out by individual members and the branches in lobbying both Nationally and locally. The commitment shown should give all members strength in 2010 to step up and battle against the cuts and the threats to our service. In Teesside we saw a member in the press, and in Durham links made with influential members of the House of Lords. This result tells me that local campaigning as well as parliamentary campaigning can bring results. Three words really do ring true - "unity is strength". No doubt we face challenging situations in 2010, but through out collective strength we can continue to make breakthroughs such as this."