Youth Justice: YJB slams prison officer strike for endangering young offenders
Alison Bennett
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
The Youth Justice Board has accused prison officers of putting young offenders at risk after they held a one-day strike.
Thousands of youth prison workers walked out last week in a row with the government over pay. The Ministry of Justice cut short the Prison Officers' Association strike after obtaining a High Court injunction.
The board said it was "dis- turbed" by the walkout and said the association had put "at potential risk some of society's most vulnerable and troubled young people".
One prison officer involved in the strike told Children & Young People Now that during the strike senior managers looked after the young people, who were kept in their rooms.
The officer, who did not want to be named, said the strike concerned more than an argument over pay: "This government has lied to us for a long time. It keeps trying to run prisons on the cheap. It locks young people up, but is not prepared to look after them."
The Youth Justice Board said the strikes did not negatively affect young people held in young offender institutions and that "contingency plans" had been in place to ensure young people received meals.
Steve Gough, national vice chair of the association, said the action affected all government-run young offender institutions in England and Wales. Privately-run prisons and local authority secure children's centres were not affected by the strike.
The row followed a recommendation in an independent pay review saying prison staff should get a 2.5 per cent salary increase. However the government has only offered staff 1.9 per cent.
Staff who went on strike returned to work the next day (30 August) after the Ministry of Justice agreed to hold talks with representatives from the Prison Officers Association.
However, the officer who spoke to Children & Young People Now said that while he hoped the talks would have a positive outcome, he felt it was unlikely. "Personally, I don't think much will come of it," he said.