Prison officers called off strike

Prison Officers Association members at Moorland, Lindholme and Moorland Open left their posts at 7am yesterday and picketed the gates, which meant no visits for prisoners, who were kept in their cells.

They returned to work at 7.30pm after promises of talks from the Government.

Fire crews went into Moorland Prison at around 3pm after being called out to deal with a small cell fire. Two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus went into the cell and were out of the prison again after about 10 minutes.

At Lindholme, some non-union staff had to deal with abusive language from the cells, but no major problems.

Lindholme's POA branch secretary Kev Boswell said: "We feel it was a productive day and Justice Minster Jack Straw has been told in no uncertain terms how we feel.

"I was served with legal papers by the governor warning I could be fined or imprisoned. It was scare tactics, but we carried on with the strike, and I'm proud of the staff."

Police were on standby at the site in case of trouble, but the union had promised to go in and deal with any major incidents which occurred.

The strike was held in protest at the Government's controversial decision to pay a recommended 2.5 per cent wage rise in two stages, reducing the value of the award to 1.9 per cent.

South Yorkshire's crown courts were largely unaffected by the action as most prisoners appearing at Sheffield and Doncaster come from privately-run Doncaster Prison, which was not involved in the strike.

The Ministry of Justice obtained an injunction in the High Court against the POA, which it expected would lead to a return to work.

But most prison officers remained on strike for several hours after the court move before the union's executive decided to end the stoppage, with fresh talks pledged.

Steve Gough, vice-chairman of the POA, said Justice Secretary Jack Straw had offered full and meaningful talks over the pay dispute which had persuaded the union's executive to call off the strike.