Prison officers at the Parklea Correctional Centre near Blacktown will strike on Friday for 48 hours over safety concerns and poor pay rates.
Parklea Gaol has the worst record for serious assaults on prison officers in NSW. Officers at the maximum security men’s gaol are the worst paid in the country and are routinely asked to work understaffed, especially on weekends.
The Centre is privately run by multinational MTC.
PSA Assistant General Secretary Troy Wright says no-one should have to go to work fearing for their safety.
“Last financial year Parklea Gaol had the worst record for serious assaults on prison officers in NSW, and the second worst rate of assaults amongst inmates,” he said.
“In the last year we have seen a riot and two fires at Parklea Gaol, one which caused $8 million in damage. In that same period there have been three deaths at the gaol. It’s easy to see something is going seriously wrong.
“Only in the last few weeks a prison officer was king hit from behind. Officers have had shivs held to their throats and others have been punched in the face.
“Understaffing is chronic and causing a lot of these problems. We know this gaol is short staffed everyday.
“Because it’s a private gaol, every time MTC doesn’t roster someone on they pocket their wages. So officers are routinely doing the jobs of two or three people, which is dangerous and stressful. It also means inmates spend longer locked in their cells which exacerbates the situation.
“The longer inmates spend locked in their cells the more agitated they get and the more likely they are to assault staff, or start riots or fires. You don’t need to be Einstein to work that out.
“For example, this week some areas had 480 prisoners who are meant to have 28 officers looking after them. They had just 17.
“MTC trains their own officers and we know they routinely lie to them. They tell them they will get every second weekend off, but in reality it’s not unusual for officers to get one weekend off every six weeks.
“Because MTC don’t pay penalties for working weekends, they save money by making their staff work as much as possible on Saturday and Sundays when they should be spending time with their families.
“We know MTC have brought forward the graduation of their latest batch of Probationary Prison Officers so they can work when other officers are on strike this Friday and Saturday. So these 30 inexperienced officers will spend their first day on the job teaching themselves how to run a maximum security gaol.
“Staff are currently negotiating a new enterprise agreement with MTC and they have offered officers a paltry 2.5 per cent increase. Officers want to see that raised by one per cent, otherwise strike action will continue.
“Our members also want staffing levels increased and a decrease in weekend work.”
Striking Prison Officers will rally at 11am this Friday December 16th 2022 at the Blacktown Leisure Car Park (on the corner of Sentry Drive and Ponytail Drive, Stanhope Gardens).
