Vote looms as strike closes courts, locks down prisons
Abe Maddison |
South Australia’s legal and prison systems remain in limbo as staff consider ending a strike that has shut down courts and forced a 96-hour lockdown for prisoners.
Public Service Association general secretary Charlotte Watson met Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis on Thursday afternoon and the union is weighing its options.
More than 1000 corrections officers across the state voted to strike on Monday and on Thursday voted to extend it to 96 hours, calling on the government to increase pay rates, lift staff numbers and improve safety.
Sheriff’s officers, crown solicitors and lawyers and home detention officers voted to join the strike action for various lengths of time on Thursday.
The corrections officers’ strike has plunged the prison system into a four-day lockdown, with more than 2000 inmates confined to their cells since 7.30am on Monday.
Union delegates were consulting members late on Thursday and striking staff will reconvene on Friday morning to decide whether to take further action, or reach an agreement with the government.
Corrections officers are striking over what they say is an inadequate pay offer, a surge in violence in prisons and a crisis in staffing levels caused by low wages.
A prisoner was bashed unconscious on Sunday at Yatala Labour Prison, where two other inmates were seriously assaulted in November.
In October, a female prisoner allegedly used a metal pole to inflict life-threatening head and neck injuries on another inmate, severing a finger, while a female corrections officer had her hand broken while disarming the alleged attacker.
Ms Watson said Premier Peter Malinauskas was refusing to listen to their concerns.
“While the SA justice system system has been collapsing, the premier has been jetting off to Sydney to strut on the national stage,” she said.
“We’ve warned the premier the corrections officers, lawyers and sheriffs who keep this state’s justice system running have had enough of being ignored.
“If I were him, I’d get on the next plane home and come to our stop-work meeting to hear directly from our members.”
City and suburban courts in Adelaide were forced to close and postpone all listed matters on Thursday.
The Public Service Association (PSA) says corrections officers have received one per cent rises annually for the past six years and are being offered 10.5 to 12.5 per cent over 18 months, but want more for lower-paid workers.
Attorney-General and Industrial Relations Minister Kyam Maher said he had “never before seen the leadership of a union publicly celebrate that their industrial action is interfering with the operation of the justice system”.
“The PSA’s industrial action is deeply irresponsible and the government calls on the PSA to put the interests of victims of crime first and end this action immediately,” Mr Maher said.
The government’s most recent offer to the association was significantly more generous than the deal it struck with the previous Liberal government, he said.
“The PSA’s demand for a 20 per cent wage rise over only 18 months is not consistent with responsible budget management and is significantly out of step with the wage rises most South Australians see in their own workplaces,” he said.
Privately operated prisons at Mt Gambier and the Adelaide Remand Centre are not affected by the strike action.
AAP
