Prison staff launch 2-day strike

Prison support staff have gone on strike after rejecting a one per cent pay rise offer from their bosses.

Staff including maintenance workers and caterers throughout the country have taken industrial action for 48 hours from 6am today.

Support workers at Pentonville and Holloway prisons are believed to be part of an estimated 4,000 staff involved in the Prison Service Joint Industrial Council unions (PSJIC) action.

The industrial action follows a strike in May by the PSJIC - which includes the Transport and General Workers union, Amicus and the GMB.

It was after this the Prison Service made the one per cent pay offer, which GMB national officer Neil Moore called "insulting".