Interview: Steve Gillan (new GS of POA)

[Big Daz]

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/inde ... full/93866" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Steve Gillan, the new general secretary of the Prison Officers Association (POA) union, is not a man daunted by the task ahead of him.

Since Gillan took over from Brian Caton in May, the coalition government has announced a draconian attack on public services, which also brings with it the spectre of more prison privatisation.

Caton and POA president Colin Moses helped to raise the profile of the union over the last decade and Gillan is passionate in his desire not to see that momentum lost - but he knows that as he gets stuck into his post he faces an environment that will be as tough as or tougher on unions than under the Thatcher government in the '80s. And he also knows that keeping in touch with grass-roots members is vital for winning this battle.

"I think it is very important for union officials to have served at the sharp end, and I'm proud of the fact that I was a lay official up until I became general secretary," he says.
"You don't lose touch with the people you are working with and I wouldn't want it any other way. I keep in touch with grass-roots members, after all they are the ones that pay my salary." Gillan is also keen to stress that the union is not an association any more.

"We have altered the mindset. We have made it quite clear that we are a union not an association. It's the POA union and we are determined to reflect the views of the diverse membership which also includes psychiatric nurses and prison educators," he says.

Since gaining power, the coalition government has shown that it is determined that public-sector cuts will be permanent, with Prime Minister David Cameron saying there is no chance of public-sector funding levels being restored once the deficit has been addressed and warning workers that he expects them to deliver essential services on the cheap.

But Gillan doesn't believe he has been handed a "poisoned chalice" as he prepares to fight the cuts.

"I knew there would be difficult times ahead, but we also knew that Labour would probably be defeated," he says.

"However I'm not suggesting that Labour were any friends of the trade union movement. Labour promised many things in opposition. People such as Blair, Prescott and Straw stated that we would get our rights restored. They also said they would put an end to prison privatisation, but they failed miserably. That made us bitter towards politicians in general. There are some good politicians, but we were deceived and lied to.

"We have made it clear to politicians that if the issue is right we will take action. There has been sporadic action since '94 of course - we were forced into action in August 2007 when they interfered with our pay. We warned them not to, and our membership said enough is enough.

"Some may say that was reckless bearing in mind the vulnerable people we look after, but we had to bring it to the public's attention and we had a lot of public sympathy."

In only his first few days in the job Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said he intended to cut the number of people being sent to jail. Using the language of the left, Clarke made all the correct noises, saying that prison "does not always work," is often a waste of money and that many inmates guilty of petty crimes should not be there. But Gillan points out that this is just a smokescreen and the real reason behind Clarke's stance is more about cuts and privatisation than prisoner welfare.

"It is just a cost-cutting exercise that will place the public in more danger," he says.

"The future is very bleak under this coalition government. I think Ken Clarke has laid out his stall. But when the rehabilitation revolution gets to the consultation stage he will listen to everybody with a vested interest in the private and voluntary sector and not listen to us at all.

"We have written to Clarke twice asking for a meeting and we have been ignored and stonewalled. But we know they already have an agenda to give as much as possible to the private sector and build PFI prisons which are more expensive for the taxpayer.

"The public should be concerned about the criminal justice system because they are funding it," Gillan says.

"It matters about who we are locking up - and should private companies be making a profit from their incarceration? No, that is totally reprehensible.

"I always worry about the voluntary sector that is funding them. Some private company funding them from afar? That can't be right.

"People say short sentences don't work, but they can work if prison officers are given the funding and resources to do it," he says.

Looking forward to next month's TUC Congress, Gillan says he is pleased that the general council has withdrawn the invitation to Cameron.

"It was not the time or the place," he says. In terms of the Congress itself, Gillan wants to see more co-ordinated union action.

"The biggest thing I would like to see from the TUC is more co-ordination on any demonstrations or campaigns. Everybody needs to be on board or it is doomed to failure," he says.

"This government will pick off individual trade unions. It should be about looking after each other not survival of the fittest, looking after and protecting grass-roots members from all walks of life.

"I'm afraid sometimes when things are wrong, legislation needs to be ignored and what we are clearly saying is that we need to be united and get our message across. I'm looking for that to come out of the TUC."