The Prison Officers’ Assocation (POA) was forced to call off its unlawful, wildcat strike by the Ministry of Justice which won a court injunction to end it.
Reported by The Times, the planned strike, the first in the union’s history, was cut short as members returned to work following the ruling.
The disruption centres around the rejection of a staged 2.5 per cent pay deal. Prison officers take home a starting salary of £17,744 a year with an average salary amounting to £23,992 a year – overtime is reimbursed through time off.
Colin Moses, chairman of the POA, said: “The morale of staff is at rock bottom and the decision of the government to stage the pay award was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
The POA, which had plotted the action in secret, announced it only one hour before the 7am start. According to the paper it took the prison service managers and the government by surprise. The strike caused disruptions in 130 state-run jails in England and Wales. Most of the country’s 80,300 prisoners remained locked in their cells, with prisons run on a skeleton staff.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), said yesterday: “Below inflation pay awards leading to pay cuts in real terms are completely unacceptable and is a problem that PCS members delivering vital public services also face. Like POA members, PCS members are prepared to stand up for fair pay and the services they deliver which is why your fight is our fight. The government need to recognise that they cannot continue to use civil and public servants as an anti-inflationary tool by beginning to value them with fair pay.”
Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, is to hold talks with union leaders today. He said: “The way to deal with these matters is by negotiating, not by an unlawful strike taking place.”
