A prison officer at Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre has been stood down after she publicly raised concerns about resources and over-crowding at the Wacol prison.
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United Voice union delegate Kylie Muscat on Tuesday went public with her concerns following the assault of a fellow prison officer on Friday morning.
She said overcrowding, under-resourcing and a prisoners' smoking ban had made conditions for prison staff unsafe.
The story was first published by Fairfax Media about 1.30pm on Tuesday.
United Voice prisons co-ordinator Michael Clifford said within a few hours of that story appearing online Ms Muscat had been suspended on full pay.
“She’s pretty devastated, but she’s also a very courageous union delegate who knows what she’s doing is the right thing,” he said.
Management of the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre has been outsourced to the Sydney-based GEO Group since 1992.
A spokesman for GEO said the only comment the company would make was that Ms Muscat had been “suspended for breaching company policy”.
Mr Clifford said Ms Muscat had been suspended as an act of “pure intimidation”.
“This is an employer who should be addressing the safety issues that Kylie is raising. Instead of addressing the safety issues, they’re attacking the person that’s trying to have them addressed,” he said.
“This is just about intimidating people into silence.
“There’s a lot of talk in this country about free speech, but there’s a lot of employers who think free speech stops the minute you walk inside the workplace, that you don’t have a right to raise these sorts of issues.”
Mr Clifford said Ms Muscat’s actions were protected under the Fair Work Act section 346, which protects people involved in industrial activity from “adverse action”.
“She is a union delegate – she can and should raise safety issues and, if they’re not being addressed, she should do whatever it takes to make sure they are addressed and that’s what she was doing,” he said.
“…Kylie was fulfilling her role as a union delegate and not talking as an employee of Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre.
“Under the Fair Work Act, union delegates have rights to pursue the industrial interests of their members without any adverse action from employers.
“So, our union will be writing to GEO today. They can expect a letter from our lawyers identifying that we believe they are in breach of those provisions of the act and we’ll be asking them to cease any action they’re taking against Kylie.”
The GEO spokesman would not comment on United Voice’s claim the move breached the Fair Work Act.
Mr Clifford said the union would back Ms Muscat “100 per cent of the way”.
“It’s not just Kylie,” he said.
“All union delegates and members know that they have the right to speak up about safety issues in the workplace, particularly when those safety issues are life threatening.”
