Prison Officer.Org.UK

Eggman · Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:31 am Post subject: Prison Officer's Strike

Did any of you get a heads up that this was going to happen?

The first I heard of it was when I switched on the news this morning.

What are your thoughts?

d_kebab · Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:45 am Post subject:

Was just going to post about this..

There's some interesting views on the sky news 'your views' section

Prison officer: On strike, on nights, at court today as witness to an assault. Fair recognition would appreciated.

MarkCurtis, Colchester: Prison officers claiming that conditions are bad is nothing other than a joke. They must have known the job description before they applied. Its a career hazard to be amongst inmates. To have 150 inmates on methadone supplied by the government is better than having 150 inmates requiring it. If you dont like it, get another career!

Support Officer: Old style bullying is what is being used at liverpool by the senior staff enough is enough. I am a support officer -- prisons work only on the goodwill of the loyal commited staff.

Prison officer: I have been a serving prison officer for 18 years and for the last 10 years pay awards have been poor. The government has had enough warning.

Prisoner: I'm an inmate in Dorchester -- the strike is unfair on us inmates as we wont even get fed.

Prison officer: In twenty years as a serving prison officer, I have never known staff morale as low as it is now. Tthis is due to rising staff assaults, management bullying and pay cuts. We will gladly let Jack Straw through the picket line to pick some keys up and give reality a try. I am proud to be a striking prison officer.

Prison officer, John from York: More dangerous working conditions, being told to work extra hours for time off at a later date, which you can't get due to staff shortages. Enough is enough. This should have happened long ago.

Anon: If prison officers don't like the pay or hard work then get a different job.

Prison officer: Most staff consider this action by the POA long overdue. We work for an employer who is happy for its staff to work in increasingly dangerous conditions where we are assaulted, spat at, have excrement and urine thrown at us, then reward us with year upon year below inflation pay awards.

HMP_wannabe · Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 12:03 pm Post subject:

i appologise in advance for my comments.....

but this is to Mark Curtis, Colchester. who the F**k do you think you are have you ever stepped in a prison and witnessed this first hand i suggest by your comment the answer is no. so go back to your nice little air conditioned office in your little comfort zone where you feel safe and secure and leave us to do the real work!!!

and anon as for your pay and hard work comment if you havent got the balls to put your name to the comment then i suggest you STFU!!!!

i appologise if i have offended anyone with my comments but i wonder sometimes where the media find these muppets to interview, my guess is the dole queue. why do people feel the need to put service personnel down when we strike for good reasons they did the same to the fire service when they took strike action but i bet they would be the first people they rang if there house went up. i really wish the idiots good come and see things from our point of view i would gladly read there comments then!!!

saltpepper · Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 3:43 pm Post subject:

I am very sad that things have come to this its now 16.30hrs and the POA are still refusing to allow staff back to work, Bristol returned but others are still out.
The POA say they care about the staff my personal view is dream on its all just for politics.
My Family have lost enough over the years and had hoped that the posting we had that bought us to our present prison would not be our last but since we moved here we have had problem after problem, Are the POA going to pay everyone the days pay lost some of us can not afford to lose it we have lost enough already. On speaking to my Two family members they are still being denied the chance to return to work not by the Prison Service but by the local union, where were they when we lost our child, when one of the others had a tumour removed when we asked for compassionate assistance to move due to a knife attack on two family members one serving one ex prison staff.
The pressure has been hard but we have each other we had to move home due to the attack, we could not get a move so stuck at the same prison. COME on POA if your so much for your staff answer that.

Guest · Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 3:47 pm Post subject:

prisonsorguk · Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 3:52 pm Post subject:

Eggman · Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 4:20 pm Post subject:

No need to worry. I'm sure everybody realised it was you

prisonsorguk · Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 6:27 pm Post subject:

lapmonkey9 · Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 6:30 pm Post subject:

Carbon · Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 6:47 pm Post subject:

I went to work this morning and yes I stayed outside on strike.

No one in prison service knew there would be strike action this morning as the POA officials only found out at 0530.

We were informed that the NEC (National Executive Committee) had taken the decision to stage a 24 hour withdrawal of labour and asked for our support. Being a union member I was not about ignore a call for support such as this.

I stand by the decision as I believe it has to make the government look not just at officers pay but also the budgets that prisons are forced to work on and the worsening conditions for both officers and inmates alike.

I love my job and believe I am worth much more than the £18,908 that I am paid a year but I accept that is my wage. However when an independent pay review recommendation is ignored by this government something has to be done. The NEC took that decision today.

Let's hope it acheives some good.
_________________
Carbon
'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?'

prisonsorguk · Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:04 pm Post subject:

".....For your first answer to this is what makes me laugh at just how daft you are.."

Really?

Well let's look at the facts should we. Today prison officers were served with an injunction by the High Court. That injunction reads that if you ignore it the assets of the union could be seized and officers imprisoned - I didn't threaten that, the Judge who signed the Order did.

If you don't believe that would happen, just go out on strike again tomorrow; go on I dare you! Surely you arent even that thick? Though I could be wrong!

Secondly, if 'daft' is being on 85,000 a year, with homes in the UK, Gran Canaria and Thailand, not to mention my own helicopter which I'm qualified to fly - then yes, I'm (happily) daft - and I bet you wish you were too!

HMP_wannabe · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 6:25 am Post subject:

Eggman · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 6:55 am Post subject:

falkor · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 7:02 am Post subject:

please bear in mind that prisonsorguk was banned from this forum at 10pm on 29 Aug 2007

he is now not in a position to reply to you or take further part in discussions

Carbon · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 9:18 pm Post subject:

Good, coz he was a cock Smile