Screws on Strike

[The Feral Underclass]

For those who do not know the countries Prisoner Officers went on strike the other day and were taken to court and received an injunction to strike as it's illegal in this country for Prisoner Officers to go on strike.

They have threatened to defy that injunction and go on strike again if their conditions and pay increase is not agreed on fairly.

Should we support Prisoner Officers, - who are essentially a specific tool of the state and of oppression - who go on strike?

(NB: It is also illegal for Police officers and soldiers to go on strike.)

[Devrim]

Originally posted by The Anarchist Tension+August 31, 2007 11:14 am--> (The Anarchist Tension @ August 31, 2007 11:14 am) For those who do not know the countries Prisoner Officers went on strike the other day and were taken to court and received an injunction to strike as it's illegal in this country for Prisoner Officers to go on strike.

[/b]
I don't think that it actually is:

wiki
Questions were raised about the POA's status in the 1990s. In 1994, a legal decision determined that it was illegal to induce prison officers to take industrial action - a law which had applied to police officers since 1919 - meaning that the POA could not call strike action amongst its members. New labour legislation introduced by the Conservative government in 1992 laid down that the POA could no longer be a trade union. This was reversed in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994, but prison officers were still denied the right to take industrial action. This right was restored in 2004 to prison officers in the public sector in England, Wales and Scotland, but not in Northern Ireland or to prison officers in the private sector.

What was illegal was the way the POA organised the strike.

Devrim

[apathy maybe]

An interesting question. But I think, there is still only one answer. We should support them, in their demands for better pay and conditions. At the same time, we should try and persuade them to leave their jobs (same with cops and soldiers) and get societally better jobs. And at the same time as all that!, we should try and radicalise them and make them see what is wrong with society (capitalism and the state).

I can't think of any other answer.

[The Feral Underclass]

Originally posted by devrimankara+August 31, 2007 12:33 pm--> (devrimankara @ August 31, 2007 12:33 pm)
Originally posted by The Anarchist [email protected] 31, 2007 11:14 am
For those who do not know the countries Prisoner Officers went on strike the other day and were taken to court and received an injunction to strike as it's illegal in this country for Prisoner Officers to go on strike.


I don't think that it actually is:

wiki
Questions were raised about the POA's status in the 1990s. In 1994, a legal decision determined that it was illegal to induce prison officers to take industrial action - a law which had applied to police officers since 1919 - meaning that the POA could not call strike action amongst its members. New labour legislation introduced by the Conservative government in 1992 laid down that the POA could no longer be a trade union. This was reversed in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994, but prison officers were still denied the right to take industrial action. This right was restored in 2004 to prison officers in the public sector in England, Wales and Scotland, but not in Northern Ireland or to prison officers in the private sector.

What was illegal was the way the POA organised the strike.

Devrim [/b]
The bourgeois media are spinning it that it is illegal for screws to strike.

[Devrim]

Originally posted by The Anarchist [email protected] 31, 2007 12:19 pm
The bourgeois media are spinning it that it is illegal for screws to strike.
I am not 100% sure, but I don't think that it is. I think the illegality springs from the process.
Devrim

[Luís Henrique]

We should support them, if their demands are reasonable (better pay, better insurance in case they die/are wounded due to their activities, etc). We should not, if their demands are abusive (leeway for mistreating prisoners, etc). We should be able to know what they are in fact demanding; sometimes they can disguise one thing as the other.

We should oppose all legislation that makes any strike illegal.

We should abandon the idea that there are, somewhere in this planet, workers who don't contribute, in a way or other, to the capitalist system; consequently, we should understand that being working class is not a moral status, but an economic feature.

Luís Henrique

[rouchambeau]

What do you mean by support? I'm all for prison guards not doing their job, but I don't want to make their work any easier for them.

[Cencus]

Labour repealed the law that made it illegal for the screws to strike, but in it's place there was a voluntary agreement that said screws couldn't strike in return for all future pay rises were decided by a 3rd party.

This year the commitee put the screws pay rise at 2.5%, Brown decided to stagger the pay rise, giving 1.5% initially and the other 1% later in the year, thus breaching the agreement in spirit if not . The union knew they'd get screwed over in the courts so called the strike with minimum notice. Still the goverment had them done over and the strike declared illegal by lunchtime.

I was just hoping for a police baton charge tbh.

Should we support them? Well as far as they are getting screwed by the government and the enemy etc goes. Let's take an honest look at the role screws play, essential they are part of the state aparatus on a similar level to the police. They help the criminal justice system maintain the capitalist state, but at the same time they deal with all the shit of society on a daily basis, not a job I'd wish on anyone.

Support em I can't because they are a key piece of state oppression, even if they are working class.

[Kropotkin Has a Posse]

They're sort of Uncle Toms for a brutal prison system, but this could be a thread of class-consciousness within their ranks.

[capstop]

They're sort of Uncle Toms for a brutal prison system, but this could be a thread of class-consciousness within their ranks.

YOU GOT IT ABSOLUTLY SPOT ON! YES,YES, AT LAST!

[RGacky3]

Just imagen if Prison Guards got class concious, as some GIs did in Vietman, so hell yes support them.