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Press releasesREF: PR/39/07 DATE: 29th August 2007 To: ALL POLITICAL PRESS RELEASE POA Calls National StrikeAs the crisis mounts on the Prison Service the POA has today called for the first national strike in its 68-year history. The POA’s National Executive Committee have determined that prisons in England and Wales will take strike action from 07.00hrs today, 29th August 2007 for at least 24 hours, or until otherwise instructed by the POA NEC. Colin Moses National Chairman of the POA said: “The moral of staff is at rock bottom and the decision of Government to stage the pay award as recommended by the Pay Review Body for 2007 was the “straw that broke the camels back”. “The POA recently conducted a workplace ballot and 87% of those who voted said, yes to industrial action up to and including strike action. This union is carrying out the rights of its members and the right of every worker to withdraw their labour.” Brian Caton General Secretary of the POA said, “This Government has failed to deliver promise after promise to this union and today it is reaping all that it has sown. It is unforgivable that a Labour Government should treat public services and workers with such distain. POA members working in prisons are dealing with the people society can no longer cope with; they are working in ever more dangerous and violent environments with assaults on staff increasing to an average of 8 per day. Yet, the Government continues to demand more and more savings from the Prison Service at the expense of staff; enough is enough. The professional men and women of the service deserve a fair days pay for a fair days work”.
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