Port Phillip Prison staff strike ‘indefinitely’ over pay
Hundreds of workers at Victoria’s biggest maximum security jail will ignore official directives from top bosses in an “indefinite” strike starting on Tuesday after failed pay negotiations.
News
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Hundreds of workers at Port Phillip Prison are set to ignore official directives from top bosses in an “indefinite” strike starting on Tuesday after failed pay negotiations.
About 350 guards and staff at Victoria’s biggest maximum security jail will launch the industrial action after Fair Work negotiations with its operator, global security company G4S, stalled earlier this month.
G4S proposed a 13.5 per cent pay increase over four years, but staff have been calling for a 20 per cent rise over that same period.
The strike comes after workers knocked back the operator’s two proposals of the deal.
From Tuesday, staff will ignore any form of communications or directives from G4S, including phone calls, texts, emails, social media and briefings – unless a prisoner, worker or visitor is in immediate danger.
They will also stop filing paperwork about prisoner case management, documentation which private prison operators must provide to Victorian authorities.
Concerns about a prisoner’s wellbeing, assaults and threats of self harm will still be reported.
Staff will also make sure they do not start their shift before it is set to begin.
CPSU Branch Secretary Karen Batt said earlier this week that staff had overwhelmingly voted to proceed with the strike.
“Over 90 per cent of members voted “yes” to take protected industrial action,” she said in a letter to workers.
“This means we will now take action to force a better offer to come forward.”
A G4S spokesman told the Herald Sun last week that the company had been negotiating with the union in good faith and hoped to reach an agreement “in due course”.
It comes after fears had also been raised about guards’ safety following a spate of violent incidents in Victorian jails, including convicted murderer and drug boss George Marrogi allegedly assaulting an officer inside the Metropolitan Remand Centre in February.
In July 2022, prisoners on remand at Port Phillip Prison punched two prison guards in separate attacks less than one month apart.
Just a week later, a prisoner allegedly slashed another guard in the neck, throat and eye.
More Coverage
Acknowledgement of country signs set up at water work sites in Geelong
A state government agency has been spotted placing acknowledgement of country signs next to its work sites to recognise the original custodians of “the water on which we rely”.
Inside the new off-field life of AFL star Jamarra Ugle-Hagan
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan was the number one draft pick for the Western Bulldogs, but a new off-field development tells a state of affairs far removed from football.