100 signatures reached
To: The WA State Government
Secure Jobs for Custodial Officers
Court and Custody Officers are calling on the WA State Government to bring their Department of Justice contract back in house and secure the jobs of over 300 guards. And retain well-trained and experienced guards by attracting them to a high-risk industry with reliable, safe, secure and meaningful roles.
Why is this important?
We are Care and Custodial officers who work for contractor Ventia under the Department of Justice (“DoJ”) Court Security and Custodial Services (“CS&CS”) contract.
Some of us have worked in this role for 20 years and have not once received long service leave.
The contract constantly changes providers and has been mismanaged since it was privatised by the Department of Justice in 2000. We work in a challenging role and a risky environment, transporting persons in custody to hospitals and keeping a watch on persons in custody who have left the prisons for the day, for whatever reason.
The contract in its form is simply unsustainable.
We deal with a high turnover of staff, untrained guards (often subcontractors the company uses to keep costs down), low morale, and low paid, insecure, casualized jobs.
After being stonewalled on two occasions by the company and the Fair Work Commission when we tried to take protected industrial action, we are calling for the WA State Government to bring the contract back in house and provide us with safe, secure and reliable jobs we can count on.
Some of us have worked in this role for 20 years and have not once received long service leave.
The contract constantly changes providers and has been mismanaged since it was privatised by the Department of Justice in 2000. We work in a challenging role and a risky environment, transporting persons in custody to hospitals and keeping a watch on persons in custody who have left the prisons for the day, for whatever reason.
The contract in its form is simply unsustainable.
We deal with a high turnover of staff, untrained guards (often subcontractors the company uses to keep costs down), low morale, and low paid, insecure, casualized jobs.
After being stonewalled on two occasions by the company and the Fair Work Commission when we tried to take protected industrial action, we are calling for the WA State Government to bring the contract back in house and provide us with safe, secure and reliable jobs we can count on.