United Voice Union accuses Arthur Gorrie Prison Officers of running a 'fight club'

As the United Voice Union (UVU) struggles to hold onto a monopoly over the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre and all private correctional centres within Australia it currently has coverage for, we have today witnessed an outrage perpetrated by the UVU and ex-prisoners engaging in a campaign against the private-sector prison officers at the Arthur Gorrie correctional Centre and the contractor GEO.

The ABC has published an article today which cites allegations made by UVU Organiser Damien Davie and ex-prisoners regarding the conduct of a number of Prison Officers.

It is of significant concern to us that the union appears to be in collusion with prisoners and ex-prisoners and has made such outrageous allegations against prison officers in the public arena without any apparent factual evidence to back up these claims.

It is also growing increasingly more obvious that the agenda of the union is to dislodge the current administration of the present and to insert a more friendly prison operator, who might not so easily discard "cushy arrangements" such as the union endorsed income protection insurance policies which have been inserted within the enterprise bargaining agreements for many years by the union.

As many of you will recall, the union has told people that these deductions are mandatory and there is no capacity to opt out of the union endorsed income protection insurance policy with Windsor Income Protection.

"this is misleading and simply put, not true ..."

This is one of the causes for action against, yet to be nominated parties (respondents) for the recovery of "union endorsed stolen wages" claim we are developing on behalf of our members and clients.

 Brian Newman said "this union sickens me to the core, it is not why people join unions, it is not why prison officers have supported unions for time immortal, it is not why prison officers or any union member pays union fees.  It is not why I first joined the union movement myself and it is not why I chose a career in representing prison officers and workers across Australia. It is the very essence of betrayal and it is in every way a gross misrepresentation of the interests of prison officers in both public and private sectors."

He said "this is no more than a desperate last ditch effort on behalf of the union to save what is a failing monopoly in a number of workplaces, but more precisely in this workplace where the union seeks to remove the current administration and insert a more friendly administration that will allow scams like the income protection insurance the UVU has inserted within the enterprise bargaining agreement and which sees prison officers at the Arthur Gorrie correctional Centre being ripped off with insurances endorsed by the union which are not needed or wanted by the great majority of workers we have spoken to."

 Brian Newman said "the public should not be fooled by these emotive allegations made by the union, which are baseless in my opinion and when put in the context that these are allegations made by those blindly besotted by the union movement and ex-prisoners, one might well question the veracity of these claims."

#votewithyourfeet #xunion #prisonofficers #workersfirstNOTunionsfirst 

Read the ABC article here: ABC News, Inside Australia's 'powder keg' private prison (20 June 2018)  <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-20/inside-arthur-gorrie-correctional-centre/9837260>