Prison officers join UK-wide strike

According to The Prison Officers Association (POA), 80% of the union members have walked out and are supporting the strike action while the British Ministry of Justice has condemned their “protest meetings” as unannounced and unlawful, warning that it faces possible injunction against its actions.

The massive strike “has been a great success in raising the public’s awareness to the inherent dangers that the coalition government’s policy change will bring to the prison service in the future, said a POA spokesman.

Defending the strike, the POA union said its staff provide only minimum cover to preserve health and safety within jails in England and Wales as from 07:00 BST today on May 10.

Today’s industrial action by an estimated 400,000 public sector workers over the British government’s pensions changes will hit airports, colleges, military sites and courts, among others.

Meanwhile, about 2,500 prison officers in Scotland have joined the strike by public sector workers, with the Scottish Prison Service saying all jail transfers and visits had been cancelled.

“We believe the UK government owes our members a duty of care and the right to retire with dignity in a good state of mental and physical health and not to be subjected to the stressful and demanding environment of a prison in their elder years,” said Phil Fairlie, the POA’s Scottish national chairman.

SSM/JR/HE

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