More than 6,000 prison officers across NSW will be on strike for 24 hours, including here in the Hunter.
Prison officers are protesting a charge against one of their colleagues being upgraded to murder – an officer shot a man as he tried to escape custody near Lismore Base Hospital in 2019.
The officer was charged with manslaughter last year and pleaded not guilty this year but the charge is set to be upgraded to murder ahead of the trial in October.
Prison officers are angry about the charge being upgraded three years after the fact and say it’s unfair because the officer was acting according to protocol.
As a result of the strike action court cases in the Hunter will face delays and people planning to visit someone in Cessnock or Muswellbrook Correctional Centres today will have to reschedule.
The strike is set to come to an end at 6am tomorrow.