Prison workers will strike today over possible changes to workplace conditions in the public service sector.
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About 200 prison officers, nurses and administration staff from Cessnock Correctional Facility will hold a stop-work meeting in front of the gaol between 12.30pm and 1.30pm.
The strike will be one of several being held across NSW today in response to the federal government’s request for a Productivity Commission report into workplace relations.
Prison officer and vice-chairman of the Cessnock Prison Officers’ Vocational Branch of the Public Service Association Geoff Kelty said that the organisation was concerned the report was a way to bring elements of the abolished Work Choices policy back into force under a different guise.
He said he feared it would threaten working conditions such as individual employment contracts and penalty rates for overtime work.
“We don’t want to see conditions at work deteriorate,” Mr Kelty said.
“Penalty rates are a big one for us. When you work overtime you miss time with your family so you should be compensated for that.
“Overtime work happens a lot [in correctional services]. You can’t budget for inmates being injured and needing to go to hospital, you can’t just leave them.
“The tighter bail laws also mean that there are more people in the jails, so there is a need for more staff.”
Hunter MP Joel Fitzgibbon said he would stand with the corrective services staff in Cessnock to support them if he did not have parliamentary commitments in Canberra today.
“Every time we elect a Coalition government – in Canberra or in Sydney – we witness an attack on the working conditions of middle-to-low income earners,” he said.
Paterson MP Bob Baldwin said the state government was responsible for the issue.
“This industrial action is a waste of everyone’s time and is based on lies by the union movement,” he said.
“The government has no plans for legislation to alter matters such as penalty rates. NSW unions should stop lying to their members and the public.”
The Productivity Commission will accept initial public submissions for the report until March 13 and a final report is expected to be handed to the government in November.