Doncaster prison staff on strike today in Covid safety dispute

Lindholme, Hatfield, Moorland and Doncaster prisons’ employees have joined around 600 staff at 49 prisons across England in a long running health and safety dispute with employer Novus.

The strike is the fourth time the 600 staff members, represented by the University and College Union (UCU), will have walked out in the past two months.

The dispute is over the failure to address health and safety concerns raised by prison educators, a failure to meaningfully engage with UCU on the part of Novus, and repeated attempts by management to intimidate staff who had raised health and safety issues.

Novus is the biggest prison education employer in the UK and is owned by parent company LTE Group.

At the height of the Covid second wave in January, UCU wrote to all English prison education employers requesting changes to education delivery to keep staff and learners safe. Every employer apart from Novus responded positively to the union’s requests. Other prison education employers confirmed with UCU that they had put in place new safety measures in response to the second wave, including skeleton staffing, strict workplace bubble rotas, and limiting in-person teaching.

They continue to work with UCU to ensure the continued health and safety of staff is a priority.

Unlike other employers, Novus refused to properly engage with UCU over these requests, continuously declining to meet employees who UCU members have elected as their health and safety representatives. Instead Novus launched an investigation into them. UCU has received reports from members that new and inexperienced Novus staff have been sent onto wings without any personal protection training; that staff have been asked to visit multiple residential units, negating attempts to create workplace bubbles; and that learners have come into class vaping.

Through mediation via ACAS, UCU has been able to meet with Novus multiple times to try to resolve the dispute. But Novus refused to drop investigations into UCU health and safety representatives. At an ACAS meeting last week, Novus said the investigation had finished, but refused to share its findings with UCU or assure the union that no action would be taken against staff fighting for a safe teaching and learning environment. Novus also refused to share the terms of reference of the investigation or the names of its investigators. Nor were the UCU members being investigated ever spoken to as part of the investigation.

It is reported that Covid deaths are three times higher in prisons than generally.

UCU said it has a mandate for further industrial action and Novus will face further disruption if it refuses to drop its spurious investigations or address serious safety concerns raised by staff.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “For Novus to end this dispute all it needs to do is take staff safety concerns seriously and withdraw the unfair and spurious investigations it has launched against our health and safety representatives. Our members are hugely passionate about educating those inside prisons, but both the learner and the educator must be kept safe. Every other employer has been able to engage with the safety requests of staff, it’s time Novus did too.”

A spokesman for Novus said: “Our commitment to the health and safety of our colleagues and learners has always been our top priority and we are disappointed that despite our best efforts to resolve the dispute, industrial action by UCU continues.

“All health and safety concerns raised by colleagues are regularly reviewed and investigated and appropriate action is taken by the Group Health and Safety Managers. These issues are regularly discussed with union members in a recurring health and safety meeting. Unfortunately, despite an open invitation to join these meetings, UCU have not attended since January this year. This has materially impacted our ability to have an open dialogue with UCU on health and safety matters.

“Throughout previous industrial action there has been minimal impact to our service across all our establishments with over 90% of Novus colleagues working as usual. We have continued to maintain access to education for our learners at all times and have been able to deliver our usual high standard of education to the men, women and children we support.

“We remain open to discussions with UCU.”

In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Liam Hoden, editor.