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Message from National Chairman - Issue 2211th October 2007 Dear Colleagues DO WE HAVE A CHAMPION? NO. I have read with interest the Director Generals update of 10th October 2007, published two days before the release or exchange of the 2008 pay submissions, why. Is it to try and soften the blow? There is nothing new in the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), so why is the Prison Service still required to save £62 million year on year for the next three years, because the Prisons Board has not fought hard enough to get more money for public sector prisons, unlike other services. Instead, they sit, nod and do nothing to try and improve your terms and conditions and the safety of every prison. To use a phrase that is being used now “find the money in the envelope”. What envelope, what money. The service can not save £62 million a year and ensure safe and decent prisons, you know that, I know that and so does the Prisons Board, but have they fought against it, No. Have they stood shoulder to shoulder with this union, No. We are to have 9,500 more prison places by 2012 but on Monday this week, I was told that the forecast is 100,000 prisoners by 2012. That means we will be 10,000 prison places short. Is that why the Government are looking to reintroduce Section 127, as outlined by Jack Straw? The Director General says we require 900 new staff to facilitate the new prison places. We are already 1,000 staff short, the service can not recruit the staff and recruitment courses are being cancelled or not filled to capacity on a regular basis. In 2004, around 2,500 prison officers were recruited this was not enough, in 2005 it was 2,300 and in 2006 around 1,700, these numbers of new staff simply did not match the needs of the service. This year the recruitment problems remain a major issue and with the increase in prison numbers the problem will only increase. So when the Director General says he does not want to use CSH to supplement recruitment then what does he want. We want full staffing; we want a new system to compensate staff for working extra hours. The new system, if agreed, has to be set at a fair and reasonable level. When the negotiations are complete on the new system you will decide if it is acceptable to you in a democratic way through the ballot box. We have and still continue to negotiate on a number of issues. However, those negotiations are difficult, time consuming but necessary. Like all negotiations there has to be an outcome that is agreeable to all parties. At present we are nowhere near a settlement. Finally, the Director General has written about TOIL. He has not looked at paying off the debt of £6 million; he simply skirts around the issue and asks local Governors to seek a local resolution. I will tell you what the answer is. Every member of staff who is owed TOIL hours should demand their TOIL hours be repaid within 5 weeks in accordance with Bulletin 8. Every prison should raise a dispute if they have not got full staffing and no one should sign up for CSH. Colin Moses |
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