Catherwood LibraryILR School

Despite a law prohibiting correctional officers from striking, Britain’s 34,000 member Prison Officers’ Association has indicated that its members are pressing the union to engage in labor actions in a bitter dispute over pay. The newly elected leftwing chairman of the union has indicated that widespread anger over proposed changes in pay and conditions may lead the union to use human rights laws to challenge the legality of the law prohibiting prison guards from striking. The union is already challenging an injunction preventing prison guards from leaving their workplace on lunch breaks, issued in response to growing unrest with plans to reduce the use of overtime---which many officers rely on for much of their pay.