Striking prison staff ordered to get back to work

NSW prison officers who walked off the job to protest a magistrate’s recent sentencing decision were ordered to return to work after an urgent hearing in the Industrial Relations Commission.

Prison officers from Cessnock and Bathurst correctional facilities walked off the job on Thursday, 30 October, to protest the “slap on the wrist” recently handed down to violent offender Cameron Welsh.

The Industrial Relations Commission has since ordered the staff to return to work by 6am on Friday, 31 October.

In February, Welsh assaulted and hospitalised four prison officers from the Cessnock correctional centre and left two unable to work again, according to the Public Service Association of NSW (PSA).

He was sentenced on Wednesday to a community corrections order, which could see him leave the cells as early as “tomorrow”.

PSA general secretary Stewart Little questioned why the assault resulted “in a slap on the wrist and a community order”.

“What we would expect is police to do their jobs, the members to do their job, [and] we would hope the magistrates do their job, but that is not the case,” Little told media shortly after the walkout.

Corrective Services NSW sought an urgent hearing before the Industrial Relations Commission for orders that staff “must immediately take steps to cease organising and refrain from taking any industrial action in relation to the decision” of the magistrate.

A senior corrective services officer said the centres were down to skeleton staff and would be expected to stay there for “48 hours”.

The walkout would also mean more vulnerable inmates would not get the “attention that is required” in an emergency, families will become concerned because they cannot get in touch with loved ones, and inmates would be unable to be taken to court for their hearings.

When asked by the PSA’s representative whether he believed the local court decision was “manifestly inadequate”, the senior officer said “yes”.

The commission was told Corrective Services NSW would consider the issue of Welsh’s release and a possible appeal, but PSA’s representative said this was only a “commitment for further talk”.

“We only have a commitment to consider such action, and for that reason, we say it is not adequate and does not address the issue with the urgency that it requires,” the representative said.

“We are asking that the commission not interfere with this action but to put safety first and understand how critical this issue is to the men and women who faithfully serve Corrective Services NSW.”

The Industrial Relations Commission will publish reasons for the decision on Friday morning.