UCATT Brands Prison Service Incompetent

Construction union UCATT has branded the heads of the Prison Service incompetent, due to the farcical situation that thousands of manual workers have still not received a pay award.

Maintenance workers have been waiting since April for their annual pay award. Over six months later the unions concerned have still not even received an offer.

Prison bosses have indicated that they have not yet even managed to submit a proposed offer to the Treasury. Although informally any offer made is likely to be well below the rate of inflation.

The maintenance staff who play a crucial role in keeping prisons open and include carpenters, locksmiths, builders, painters, chefs, electricians and plumbers, receive very low wage, most workers have to survive on as little as £15,000 a year.

The low wages have resulted in it becoming almost impossible for the prison service to recruit skilled craft workers, many of whom will retire in the next 10 years.

Aside from their normal duties maintenance workers are also expected to perform many other tasks for no extra pay. Including searching and guarding prisoners, placing them on report and supervising them in workshops.

As a reaction against the unpaid additional duties expected of workers and for health and safety reasons, UCATT advises members not to carry cut down tools. A cut down tool is a modified Stanley knife used for cutting down prisoners who attempt to commit suicide.

Alan Ritchie, general secretary of UCATT, said: “The levels of incompetence within the prison service senior management is quite astonishing. It is a wonder that they actually manage to keep any prisoners behind bars”.

“The arrogant manner in which they treat poorly paid, long serving, highly skilled maintenance workers is frankly appalling.”