The Prison Officers Association (POA) yesterday expressed anger and disappointment after MPs in the House of Commons voted by 481 to 46 to back Justice Secretary Straw’s reinstatement of the ban on prison officers taking strike action.
By voting for an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, MPs have made this a criminal offence.
Prison Officers Association (POA) spokesman Glyn Travis told News Line yesterday: ‘We’re extremely disappointed that the Labour government is reintroducing Thatcher legislation which was designed to destroy independent trade unionism.’
Commenting on the fact that the move criminalises prison officers, he added: ‘Members up and down the country are extremely angry at the broken promises that Labour made to the union when in opposition.
‘We are awaiting further talks with Jack Straw next week.
‘We are disgusted by his actions. He should never have tried to take away our trade union rights.’
In the House of Commons, Straw said the government was ‘reluctantly compelled’ to seek the powers following a walkout by 20,000 prison officers last year.
A number of MPs criticised the ban and the short time, 58 minutes, allowed for the debate, but nevertheless voted for it by a huge majority.
Justice Minister David Hanson acknowledged the opposition to the timetable but said Chief Whip Geoff Hoon had secured extra time beyond the normal sitting hours to debate the Bill.
Straw said that some professions should not be allowed to strike, claiming it was necessary for public safety and prisoners’ welfare that prison officers did not strike.
Several Labour MPs expressed nervousness at the move.
Neil Gerrard warned that the POA saw it as ‘holding a gun to their heads’.
John McDonnell questioned whether it had been a ‘wise decision’ to bring the amendment forward now, as it would ‘build upon distrust’ within the union.
And David Winnick said he could not support the current wording of the plans, as they could be used by ‘another government’ to ban strikes by other emergency workers.
Liberal Democrat justice spokesman David Heath said the timing was ‘most unfortunate’ when a report from Ed Sweeney, the ACAS official who chaired talks between the Prison Service and the POA, had only just been published.
Straw said he would look again at the wording to address MPs’ concerns.
But he insisted that the announcement would not have taken the POA by surprise, as they knew a ban would be reinstated if the voluntary agreement failed.
Earlier, the POA had welcomed the statement by the Scottish Government that it will not reintroduce powers to ban strikes by prison officers in Scotland.
POA official Glyn Travis told News Line: ‘The Scottish model of voluntary arbitration works exceptionally well.
‘If we had the same model on England and Wales we would not have the situation we have here now.
‘Industrial relations are at rock bottom. There is no trust between the union and the government.’
