12.00 pm
Former prisoners currently on probation may have to be returned to prison if the strike by probation workers continues.
More than 500 Department of Corrections Community Probation Service (CPS) staff walked off the job on Tuesday after 12 South Island probation officers were suspended for their refusal to take training and to perform routine tasks, in a protest against stalled collective contract talks.
The strike forced the closure of seven of the 220 probation offices around the country.
Workers returned on to work Friday, but walked out indefinitely after the service suspended workers taking industrial action in its Christchurch and Invercargill offices.
Minister of Corrections Matt Robson said today if the strike continued some people now on probation might have to be recalled to prison.
Yesterday, people turning up for court-ordered periodic detention were sent away because there were not enough probation officers to supervise them.
One detainee in Rotorua said he had made special arrangements to travel from Tauranga to attend periodic detention and was annoyed he was turned away.
"I'm trying to stick to my sentence, why can't the people here stick to their jobs," he said.
Mr Robson said the strike was also causing some backlogs within the court system, but was hopeful the dispute could be resolved during talks between the Public Service Association (PSA) and CPS this week.
Striking workers yesterday called for a general rise for all staff, but a Department of Corrections Community Probation Service manager said there would be no such offer.
On Friday, probation workers rejected a PSA-recommended contract offer that included measures to address union concerns around safety, management practice and the pay system.
PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff said the overwhelming rejection of the revised offer simply underlined the problems with the employment relationship at CPS.
"The present offer represents no way forward, and no resolution to the real problems at the CPS."
Community Probation Service human resources manager said the service was disappointed probation officers had resumed industrial action, given that the service had reached a provisional agreement with the PSA three times.
"The Service has negotiated in good faith and will continue to talk with the PSA to try and resolve the issues."
Ms Kingdom said the public should not be concerned about the possibility of offenders being left unsupervised.
"We are extremely aware that as the industrial action continues, the public are concerned about the supervision of offenders. The Service has a register of high-risk offenders, and management and non-striking staff have assumed responsibility for managing all such offenders."
Probation Union warns of lasting bitterness
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