Unions focus on workplace violence

The Community trade union has highlighted new Ministry of Justice figures showing a further increase in assaults on prison staff.

There were 10,281 assaults in the 12 months to June 2024, a 30% increase on the previous year, while the rate of serious assaults increased by 24% to 974.

The union is calling for tougher responses to assaults on prison workers, action on tackling overcrowding, the introduction of minimum staffing levels and an end to the recruitment and retention crisis in the sector.

The NASUWT teaching union described long-awaited guidance on restraint from the Scottish government as “unfit for purpose”. NASUWT Scotland national officer Mike Corbett said the guidance “fails to uphold the Scottish Government’s duty to ensure teachers’ right to work in safety, focusing almost exclusively as it does on the rights of children who may be subject to a physical intervention”.

He added: “It places the onus on teachers and school leaders who utilise restraint or seclusion of pupils while allowing local authorities and ministers to evade their responsibilities for providing sufficient resources and staffing to help schools manage and minimise the need for such action.”

And against a backdrop of growing online and in-person threats, the NUJ journalists’ union launched an online reporting tool to capture incidents of harassment, abuse and “lawfare” targeted at journalists.

The union will use the information submitted to report anonymously on the findings while building an evidence base of threats against journalists.