Corrections pulls out of mediation with guards

The Corrections Department has failed to appear at mediation talks it initiated in a bid to find a resolution to the prison muster crisis.

Courts and police stations around the country are housing prisoners because of a shortage of prison beds.

The Employment Relations Authority had directed the department and the Corrections Association to meet in Auckland yesterday morning.

But the department's bargaining agent told the union it was withdrawing from the talks.

Corrections Association president Bevan Hanlon said it was totally inappropriate for the department to pull out of mediation it had initiated.

Public Prisons Service general manager Phil McCarthy said the union was informed on Monday the department would not attend.

"We are continuing to explore opportunities to make progress."

- nzpa