Latest editorial
Shadow justice secretary Steve Reed
SHADOW justice secretary Steve Reed said Labour would give prison officers the professional status and respect the job deserves at the Prison Officers Association conference today.
But the union’s general secretary Steve Gillan said members wanted clear manifesto commitments on restoring the right to strike and lowering the retirement age.
Mr Reed slammed 13 years of Tory failure of the criminal justice system, including cuts to policing budgets, court closures and “the fact that barely two in 100 reported rapes leads to a trial.
Our members face serious violence, crumbling workplaces and exposure to dangerous drugs — it is outrageous we still cannot legally use our industrial muscle to fight back and defend ourselves, writes STEVE GILLAN
MARK FAIRHURST highlights the main issues facing officers in a long neglected service, and raised by front-line delegates at POA conference last week, including understaffing, violence, bullying and the ongoing denial of workers’ right to strike