Prison Officers at the Clarence Correctional Centre (CCC) commenced a 48-hour strike today at 6am after rejecting what has been described as a desperate 11th hour offer by the private operator of the facility, foreign multinational Serco.

The two-day stoppage follows a planned rally on September 30 and a 12-hour stoppage on October 10 amidst the ongoing frustrations of Prison Officers surrounding poor pay rates and unsafe working conditions.

Public Service Association (PSA) Assistant General Secretary Troy Wright said he is not surprised Prison Officers rejected Serco’s offer.

“Yesterday, Serco attempted to halt the strike by offering Prison Officers a rise in base pay rates, but paid for it by cutting overtime rates,” he explained.

“Overtime is a key component of Prison Officer’s current take home pay.

“Serco has difficulty recruiting and retaining staff because Prison Officers at the prison are the worst paid in the country.

“As a result, the few remaining serving Prison Officers are forced to take on overtime to meet minimum staffing requirements at the facility and to keep pace with the rising cost of living.

“During two full years of negotiations this outfit have been telling Prison Officers they have no capacity to staff the prison properly or to lift their pay, so they’re not the worst paid Prison Officers in Australia.

“Making an 11th hour offer on the condition they don’t go on strike didn’t impress Prison Officers one bit, and they barely had time to read and digest Serco’s offer as it was made so late, so you can understand their reaction.

“Serco have had two years to sit down with their Prison Officers and negotiate a fair outcome all parties can live with, yet instead they’ve stonewalled, intimidated and lied to their Prison Officers every step of the way.

“Prison Officers simply don’t trust Serco, and that’s a result of Serco wasting two years negotiating in bad faith and creating a lot of bad blood.”

The current 48-hour strike will end at 7am, October 28.