A YEAR ago, I wrote in these pages how the new Labour government had inherited a prison service in a state of emergency, warning that my members were caught in a vicious circle of rising violence and collapsing workforce experience.

Shamefully, the crisis has just grown since then. Assaults on staff are at record highs, up another 7 per cent over the past 12 months.

And total cumulative prison officer experience has dropped by more than 4,000 years over the same period, with the prison service losing an eye-watering 113,000 years of jailcraft through austerity since 2010.

I also wrote that, although the Prison Officers Association (POA) was committed to working with the government to rebuild our broken service, this was made much harder by the ban on my members taking any form of industrial action, which allows management and ministers to exploit them with effective impunity.

That’s why we tabled a motion to TUC last year calling for the repeal of this draconian Conservative law from 1994, which Blair promised us in opposition before backtracking in office.

After congress unanimously voted for our motion, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak wrote to ministers offering to mediate a potential way forward to resolve this long-running injustice, possibly including compensatory mechanisms such as binding pay arbitration, but disgracefully, they knocked him back.

In fact, they even told me to my face they were happy to defend this Tory anti-union legislation in the European courts — a sad but unsurprising reflection on this government, given the position of its predecessors.

Likewise, this government’s Employment Rights Bill, which we welcome as a first step towards restoring a fair balance of power in the workplace, repeals some recent Tory anti-union legislation but leaves the strike ban on my members intact.

My union is grateful to POA honorary life member John McDonnell, Lord John Hendy KC and Lord Tony Woodley, former leader of Unite, for all tabling amendments to this Bill restoring our members’ right to strike.

But I was appalled and embarrassed by the illogical and incoherent arguments against these amendments made by ministers during the debates, and by the government’s refusal to adopt these sensible and reasonable changes.

So we are appealing again to TUC Congress this year to step up support for our campaign for our industrial rights.

Our motion 17, while welcoming the Bill, expresses concern that it’s missing “any recognition that prison officers lack the basic human right to withdraw their own labour as a last resort.”

It also “condemns government for not exploring potential avenues of agreement with TUC intervention” and “vows to continue the campaign to bring government to the table for negotiations on a without prejudice basis.”

Our motion 57 focuses on another key POA campaign — prison staff health and safety, backing the recently updated Safe Inside Prisons charter by the Joint Unions in Prisons Alliance (JUPA).

Founded in 2019, JUPA is a coalition of 10 national trade unions representing the majority of prison staff — POA, UCU, RCN, BMA, Napo, PCS, Unite, GMB, Unison and the Royal College of Podiatry.

The motion highlights three key areas covered by the charter — violence in the workplace, exposure to psychoactive substances and the condition of the prison estate, which has deteriorated rapidly since maintenance was privatised a decade ago.

On violence, the motion points out, “The charter calls for robust preventative measures, improved incident response and a zero-tolerance approach to staff assaults” — all vital steps needed to stop the employer normalising workplace ultra-violence.

The motion then explains “the widespread use of psychoactive substances poses serious health and safety risks” for workers, with the charter calling for “enhanced detection, intervention and support systems to protect staff from the harmful effects of these substances.”

And it condemns the way “many prison facilities are outdated, overcrowded and in disrepair” — including “the presence of asbestos in a large proportion of the prison estate” and “rat infestation, which is a health risk to prisoners and staff.”

Star readers — and the general public — will be appalled to hear prison staff have to work in such dangerous and squalid conditions, all while under serious risk of second-hand intoxication from drugs such as spice.

But let me be very clear — if the POA had the right to strike, we could fight back against all of this, and against other attacks on our members’ pay, terms and conditions, such as raising pension age to an unrealistic and cruel 68.

I urge all congress delegates to vote for both these motions and send a message to ministers that, in our movement, an injury to one is an injury to all.

Workers on the front line need the tools to fight back against dire conditions and the bad bosses who impose them, starting with the right to withdraw their own labour.

Until prison officers are given back their industrial muscle, the crisis will just continue to grow.

Steve Gillan is the general secretary of the POA. He is speaking at the TUCG fringe event on Monday September 8 at 12.45pm, Meeting Room 1D, Brighton Centre.