Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Prison Officers Association President Phil Tilbrook says members are fed up with the government's 'half-baked' pay offers

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NT Prison Officers Association President Phil Tilbrook says members are fed up with the government's 'half-baked' pay offers · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that hundreds of teachers, correctional officers, well, aboriginal
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: health practitioners. There is all sorts of people, nurses. Everybody's
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: out there today is part of this wage freezer rally
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: that's taking place. A day of action is what it's
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: been called. Now joining me on the line right now
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: is the Anti Prison Officers Association President Phil Tillbrook. Good
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: morning to you, Phil.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Phil. I understand you're there now at that day of action.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: How's it looking.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Look, it's looking good. There's a fantastic show out up
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: today at Parliament House and it's the loud message that
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: we're sending to the government that you know, the prey
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: pay freeze isn't good enough.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Phil, Any idea how many people you reckon might be
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: down there at the moment, I'd say there's.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: A good four hundred plus. The park is actually pulled,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: there's only standing room only, so it's a fantastic turnout.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: And any politicians turned up, Yeah.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: We've just had the entire COLP come out, led by
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Leah and they were in the crowd there. I don't
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: know whether they had the opportunity to speak, but I
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: did see all of all of the CLP members.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Right, Well, that's a bit a bit different to what
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: I guess you might think that you'd see. You'd probably
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: expect to see the Labor Party there, I would have.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Thought, exactly. It's a bit of a topsy turvy sort
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: of times and territory politics. When we're getting a liberal
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: MLA to a union rally, it's extremely strange times.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: I was thinking the same myself, Phil, Now, Phil, talk
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: us through. Because our correctional officers are indeed striking, I
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: believe for twelve hours today. Why have you, along with
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: our correctional officers, decided to take this part?
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I look, we're fed up with the government's half
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: baked offers for our our pays in our conditions within
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Anti Corrections. This is now the third time that Anti
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Correctional services have of United Workers' Unions and Corrections have
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: withdrawn their labor and it soldly. We had an offer
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: given to us on in the eleventh hour to try
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: and stop this action today, okay, and members voted against
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: that in large numbers.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: So what was the offer and why was it voted down?
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: H The offer was just a manipulation of the pay structure,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: so it wasn't an offer across the board as such,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: some other some areas had were advantage more than others,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: and it was just a bit of a dog's breakfast,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: to say the least. There was a half baked effort
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: from a government who said they're working hard to address
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: the issue, and you know, it looks like they're not
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: doing their homework. They're not listening to the people, they're
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: not listening to us at all, and we're here today
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: to send them a strong message. So we just won't
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: be putting up with it.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Well, from our corrections perspective, what are the main concerns here?
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Obviously the pay freeze is a major concern, but does
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: it come down to safety? What else does it come
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: down to?
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Katie, Look, there's a lot of issues out
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: in correctional centers. We're in crisis mode. We have prisoners
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: sleeping on floors, we have very extreme short staffing, we
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: have high numbers of over time, unlimited over time, and
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: when our centers are are running short on offices, we're
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: still expected to do the same amount, provide the same services.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: And we've been doing this for way too long for
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: the government. Trying to overcome these challenges, but many, many
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: years they still haven't been able to fix the issues.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: So we've sort of drawn a line on the zand
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: and said, you know, that's enough. You need to address
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: these issues now for our safety and for the community safety.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Are there ever times where correctional officers feel as though
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: they're in dangerous situations at our jails.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Daily daily, especially Alice Springs as long as I've been
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: in corrections, I've been here forading years and Alice Springs
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: very rarely has a full complement of staff on a
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: daily basis. Many times they're extremely short on nights and
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: the government and the department just don't seem to care.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Well, I tell you what, you know, I think that
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: if we don't see something change here, by the sounds
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: of it, it's going to be something that they'll have
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: to care about because it does seem And please correct
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: me if I'm wrong, that there will be further industrial
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: action and further strikes if there isn't a negotiation and
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: everybody doesn't get to the table.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well I agree with that, Katie. You speaking with
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: our members yesterday around this offer that was given to
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: us for the government, the overruling advice from them was
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: you know, let's escalate our actions. Our members are asking
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: us why aren't we walking out on a weekly basis.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: That's something that we will address after today, and if
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: the government hasn't changed its mind and moved, then we
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: will go back to our membership and seek advice on
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: how they want to escalate the industrial action.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Phil, I'll ask you the same question that I asked
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: see Education Union a bit earlier this morning. Our correctional
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: staff and our correctional officers just being greedy here, Katie.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Our correctional offices work extremely hard in a very dangerous environment,
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: and what we're after is the government to respect the
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: risk that we take every day. We feel that we're
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: not valued by them and their lack of action. The
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: pay rise is one of the issues that pay frees
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: needs to go, but there are a lot of other
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: issues within corrections that need to be addressed as well.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Phil. Are you expecting any of the labor politicians to
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: come out and address the crowd today?
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Look, Katie, I would like to see some of them
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: come out, and I know we've got our friends in there.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Joel Bowden's being very active around us in our previous
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: actions and is a friend of us else but at
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: this stage we're not seeing anyone come out, and you
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: know that's quite disappointing from the labor government.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Well, Phil Tilbrook, who is indeed the NT Prison Officers
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Association President, I appreciate your time this morning. I can
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: hear at different times those big loud jeers. It does
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: sound like there's plenty of people out there.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks Katie. I had to walk some distance away
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: to try and keep noise down a bit.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: We appreciate it. We appreciate it. Thanks Pal, good on you.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Thank you.