Strike at prisons over - for now

By PAULA OLIVER

Prison officers will go back to work tonight amid threats that they will use election year to further press their case and embarrass the Government.

More than 1800 prison officers, members of the Corrections Association, yesterday voted to return to work after three days on strike.

Their places in the country's 18 prisons have been filled by 1400 members of the Army, Navy and Air Force since Tuesday night.

Association organiser Brian Davies said the prison officers still unanimously rejected the the Corrections Department's offer of a 2 per cent pay increase this year and 1 per cent a year for the next two years.

It was regarded as "about as much use as a chocolate teapot", he said. The officers want a 6 per cent increase.

Mr Davies said it had become clear, however, that the prison officers' fight was with the Government.

"If we have to have a ... battle with the Government, we'll do it at a time that is more convenient for us and less convenient for them, which is in the build-up to their election [next year].

"If this is going to hurt us, we're going to make sure it hurts them as well."

Corrections Minister Matt Robson appeared unperturbed by the threat. "If they want to make it an election issue, that's fine. It will be interesting to see which party they will get help from," he said.

The Corrections Department reiterated that it had already made its best offer.

But with an election set down for next year, the association looks highly unlikely to sign a two-year deal. It could decide to carry on working without signing a new deal.

The attention of the department is now turning to making sure the changeover of staff at 9 tonight is swift and safe.

Some of the armed forces staff have admitted publically that they were not keen to guard the prisons, but, as service staff, had little option.

Tensions around the dispute ran high yesterday, when Public Prisons general manager Phil McCarthy fired a blistering attack on the union's persistent claims of chaos within the prisons.

Mr McCarthy said the level of incidents was "on the low side of average".

He listed 10 events of note, including a verbal attack, an attempted assault and an escort bus arriving late, but claimed they were not unusual.

In one incident, a drugs cabinet was broken into by inmates of a Hawkes Bay jail. The union claimed that an inmate subsequently needed medical attention, but Mr McCarthy said this was wrong.

He said that in an incident in April, when the officers were working, a main drugs cabinet door had been found unlocked.

"We don't like these things happening, and it doesn't happen that often, but it does happen with or without the defence forces."

Mr Robson urged the officers last night to accept the pay offer. Any further industrial action would see the military, "who have had a couple of days' practice now", called in immediately, he said.

"I have told them they can talk to me, but they can't just keep saying they want more money. I would like to pay them more, but the only way to do that is to work out how the revenue can be raised."

Mr Robson said proposals for state-sector pay increases were being put forward for the next budget.

But the present budget had already been set, and the purse-strings could not open any further.