The National Chairman

February 2008

ATTACK AND ASSAULTS AGAINST POA MEMBERS

Colleagues

Firstly let me start my first National Chairman’s column for 2008 by wishing you all a Happy New Year.

The announcement by Jack Straw to re introduce Section 127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994 was unnecessary and disgraceful. New Labour have broken the promises made to this Union and betrayed the membership and Trade Union movement.

This announcement will put in place reserved powers that the Government will use if the POA do not sign up to another no strike/no disruption agreement. This Union gave notice to withdraw from the JIRPA the second no strike agreement we had signed up to because of the abuse of those agreements by the Employer with the support of the Government.

So will we sign up to another agreement?

Any no strike agreement or procedural agreement negotiated in the coming weeks and months ahead will be subject to a workplace ballot where appropriate. It will be the broader membership who decide on another no strike agreement not the Executive and not Conference.

The Labour Government (New Labour) attacked every POA member and Employee of the Prison Service when it staged the 2007 Pay Award. The Award recommended by the Pay Review Body did not reflect or reward the worth of the professional men and women of the Service, this was another attack against the POA. By the time you read this article the announcement by the Pay Review Body in respect of Pay for 2008 will be imminent. Again, we will need to reflect on their recommendations and any subsequent actions by Government in respect of the implementation of the Pay Award.

This Government have attacked every working Public Sector Prison by forcing a 3% year on year efficiency saving for the next three years. We know what the real effects of this draconian action will be. An increase of prisoner to staff ratios, more violent places of work, more assaults, more staff suffering from stress and more pressure on staff to support an under resourced and overstretched system by working unpaid overtime (TOIL).

The Policy of this Union is to force the Government and Employers to accept and enforce a zero tolerance in respect of assaults and violence in the workplace. You may ask why the Government and the Employer will not adopt this policy and treat Prison Staff in the same manner in which other Public Sector Workers and other Union members are treated. You only have to look at the NHS, the Police and Railway Workers to establish level of support that those Employees receive, we demand equal protection.

We have witnessed significant work by the Prison Service over the years in respect of the violence reduction strategy and we welcome that work. But, why do they not put the same level of effort and resources into a policy of zero tolerance in the workplace. I am not naive and recognise that a paper target of zero percent in respect of assaults against staff and violence within Prisons would fail, but it is better to fail rather than succeeding in achieving a pare target which results in more than 8 staff a day being assaulted. Violence in Prisons is on the increase, the type of prisoner now being sent to Prison is more violent and is serving a longer sentence, prisons are overcrowded and understaffed and this is clearly a recipe for disaster. The Government and the Employer must enforce a zero tolerance policy towards violence in the workplace.

Any assault against any member of staff must be prosecuted and the Courts must give out significant consecutive custodial sentences and not concurrent sentences which have no meaning. If we are to protect staff, prisoners must be aware of the consequences they face should they be violent whilst in prison. If they are not aware of the consequences, we will always struggle to prepare them to lead law abiding lives upon release. Posters and leaflets may be the start of an awareness programme and if the Service enacts this strategy, we should welcome it. But, we have to see positive action which will ensure all staff are supported when the victim of crime. We must see an improvement to the Occupational Health Support given to staff, rather than the unjust action by the Service of dismissing those staff under capability or medical retirement. We must see a compensation scheme implemented by Government that is fair and just towards the victims of crime and not one that will be significantly detrimental to POA members.

In closing 2008 will be another struggle for this Union. We will continue the campaign for the restoration of our Trade Union Rights to the European Courts. We will battle and fight for a fair and decent Pay Award. We will ensure that we promote and protect the welfare of every POA member by ensuring we have safe and descent work places, irrespective of whether you work in the Public or Private Sector.

All the very best.

Colin Moses
National Chairman

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