My brother in law’s fight for Irish freedom gave him an opportunity to develop a
professional relationship with members of the Prison Officers’ Association in the Category A wings of a number of British jails from Belmarsh to Durham. His experience, and it’s supported by a number of sources, is that they don’t always succeed in bringing a spirit of impartial detachment to their work. Read Gerry Conlon’s autobiography if you are unconvinced.
As groups of organised workers go they do have to be among the most loathsome. But by golly they know how to pull off a one day strike and make it solid. According to the interviews on TV local officials started receiving phone calls from 5am saying that they all had to walk out at 6am. There had been no preliminary indicative votes or any of the other hogwash other unions are so fond of. On the strength of a phone call from a regional official and the instruction from their branch leadership 90% or more of POA members struck. Maybe the RMT could do that but no other respectable union in Britain could.
Their pay review body recommended a rise of 2.5% this year. The government decided that should be staged, with an initial 1.5% rise followed by another 1% six months later. This reduces it to a below inflation 1.9%. This is similar to the same sort of rubbish deals that New Labour is imposing on public sector workers. By and large the POA has been a force for evil in British prisons but it is tightly organised. That is one of the reasons Labour has been so keen to privatise the jails.
Of course they are workers in uniform but let’s assume they decide to flout the law and declare illegal industrial action. Would you want to stand in the street collecting money for them. Cops in Special Branch probably have grievances too but who could lift a finger to support them?
Below is a description of what is happening in the Trotskyist led PCS written by a SR supporter in that union. How is it that the POA has shown itself to be one thousand times bolder and what sort of reflection is that on British unions today?
The PCS national leadership is currently organising hundreds of meetings of PCS members to discuss a separate PCS national pay/staffing campaign that has died a death since a national strike on Mayday. However this seems to be just a means of appearing as if they are doing something – there is little attempt to lead the members by the Socialist party leadership of PCS.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that more unions decide to show the same sort of gumption as the screws but you won’t find me outside Tesco’s with a collecting bucket for them.
Liam redux 
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