The prison officers’ union is demanding that its members be enabled to strike, as the government prepares to repeal legislation preventing other public sector workers from staging walkouts.
The POA is calling on the government to grant it “equity with other trade unions” by extending the right to strike to prison officers, who have been banned from taking industrial action since 1994.
The employment rights bill, published last week, will spell the end to minimum service levels rules brought in by the previous Conservative government. Under the rules, employers can issue workers in certain priority areas – including the Border Force and HM Passport Office, as well as rail and ambulance workers – with a so-called "work notice" compelling them to continue working during industrial action.
The Labour Party pledged to introduce the employment rights bill within its first 100 days in government.
But while the government has now met that pledge, the POA said it “has done nothing to address the rights of prison officers”.
Prison officers are legally prevented from striking under section 127 of the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, which gave the POA the status and immunities of an independent trade union.
A permanent injunction issued in 2019 against the POA prevents the union or any of its officers or sub-groups “inducing, authorising or supporting any form of industrial action by any prison officer”. Anyone breaching the injunction can be found in contempt of court and sent to prison, fined or have their assets seized.
The POA said it welcomed “positives” from the employment rights bill, including the scrapping of last summer’s Minimum Service Levels Act, but said the government’s failure to repeal section 127 of the 1994 legislation “denies prison officers a basic human right”.
Steve Gillan, general secretary of the POA, said: “This bill is without doubt a significant step forward for workers but stops short of restoring the right to strike for prison officers. The POA call on the government to remove the disgraceful stain of section 127 of the Criminal Justice Act, which prevents our members from taking any form of industrial action.
“The POA will continue to make our members’ voice heard as we push for improvements to the legislation as the bill goes through parliament.”
Mark Fairhurst, national chair of the POA, added: “If the employment rights bill is an important part of government’s plan for growth and to raise living standards for everyone, everywhere, POA members cannot be excluded from this.
“The POA will not rest until we get justice. Our fight will continue and will go on regardless of support from the wider trade union movement.”
MPs condemn 'draconian' prison-strike legislation
Earlier this month, a group of MPs submitted an early day motion – used to draw the attention of the House to a particular issue, event or campaign – that called for an end to the "draconian restriction" on prison officers striking.
The motion, sponsored by Grahame Morris, the Labour MP for Easington, expressed "solidarity with the POA union, which has campaigned tirelessly over three decades for the return of these basic industrial rights" and called for section 127 to be repealed.
The MPs said the UK is breaching its obligations under international laws including the European Social Charter and ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, "especially in the absence of an effective and impartial means of binding resolution of disputes in the course of collective bargaining".
"This lack of industrial muscle leaves prison officers unfairly and dangerously at the mercy of prison service management and without leverage to challenge government policy with respect to pay, terms and conditions," added the motion, whose supporters included former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and former shadow chancellorJohn McDonnell. Both now sit as independent MPs.
The motion noted that prison officers in Scotland have had the right to strike enshrined in law since 2015, "yet there have been no strikes since then, only improved industrial relations".
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Prison officers work in difficult environments every day with some of the most challenging people in society, and we recognise their critical importance in keeping the public safe.
“That is why we accepted an independent pay review bodies recommendation of a 5% pay increase, raising starting salaries for officers to more than £34,000, and will soon set out plans to fix our broken prisons system.
"There are no plans to review this legislation."