WA prison officers could strike again

WESTERN Australia's prison officers have not ruled out further strike action if the latest negotiations with the state government do not bring an improved pay offer.

The prison officer's union will return to the negotiating table tomorrow morning, after 2000 members called a snap 24-hour strike on Friday morning after wage talks with the state government stalled.

Only skeleton staff worked at 13 public prisons across the state, manning the perimeters of the facilities, but officers refused to transport prisoners to court.

The action caused widespread disruption in Perth's courts. The trial of high-profile bikie Troy Mercanti was one of many court cases disrupted.

"We will be expecting something to change, and hope they can indicate to us they can put a better offer on the table,'' said union secretary John Welch.

"We will have to consider where to from there, and there will be considerable concern from our members if we took industrial action and there is nothing on the table.

"Why then would they not want to look at further action, if they feel they had not had the impact they would have liked to.''

Members want the same 14 per cent over three years pay rise that Australian Nurses Federation members extracted from Premier Colin Barnett, despite the state government being in caretaker mode ahead of the March 9 election.

The prison officers have been offered nine per cent over the same period.

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WA prison officers to vote on strike

STRIKE GROUND: WA prison officers will vote over whether to take strike action in support of a pay claim. Source: PerthNow

WA prison officers will vote over whether to take strike action in support of a pay claim. Source: The Daily Telegraph

DISGRUNTLED prison officers in West Australia are about to decide whether to strike for a better pay deal as the state election approaches.

The WA Prison Officers Union (WAPOU) has scheduled a meeting for 1.30pm (WST) to vote with a show of hands on a possible strike.

The officers say an existing wage rise offer of nine per cent is inadequate.

They're angry that Australian Nurses Federation members extracted a 14 per cent wage rise from Premier Colin Barnett on the weekend as a ``reward'' for closing some hospital beds, refusing to do certain tasks and threatening to strike.

WAPOU secretary John Welch said the state government had ignored the legitimate concerns of prison officers, who just wanted ``a fair go'' as they faced the significant risk of being assaulted by inmates in the course of their work.

``Someone should tell the premier that his government has changed the playing field with its offer to nurses, and what he's indicated is that the way to negotiate is by taking industrial action,'' Mr Welch said.

After the nurses' stoush was resolved, Mr Barnett denied he had been blackmailed as the March 9 election approached and said he hoped the result would not inspire other unions to take action.

The Liberal leader doesn't only face the prospect of a prison officers' strike.

He's also the target of a Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) rally on Thursday that will involve a ``march to Colin's palace at parliament'', referring to his new premises at the refurbished Hale House.

The CFMEU is protesting against mining and construction jobs being given to foreign workers and says mining communities are suffering from under-investment in transport, hospitals and schools.
 

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Lightning strike delays Joondalup trains

A BOLT of lighting has caused delays on the Joondalup train line this morning.

Hundreds of peak-hour passengers have been delayed on their journey into the city.

A PTA spokeswoman said trains were still running on the line this morning but were delayed by between 10 and 15 minutes due to a lighting strike near the Leederville train station which had knocked out all of the line’s traffic light signals.

“The trains are still running, all the passengers are fine…but there are delays, we have to slow all the trains down and radio them through each station,” the spokeswoman said.

A technician is currently working to get the signals back up and running, the spokeswoman said.

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Curiosity and chaos of a meteor strike

Shock wave from the asteroid cases mass panic at a Russian University

• Security footage reveals reactions to meteor
• Blast equivalent to 30 Hiroshima bombs
• Black market interest in meteor fragments
• Gallery: The Russian meteor blast

FIRST came confusion as a "second sun" streaked over Russia. Then, 2 minutes 24 seconds later, a city erupted in chaos as the meteor's shockwave struck.

The meteor - which injured nearly 1500 people and caused widespread property damage in Chelyabinsk city - was the largest recorded space rock to hit Earth since the 'Tunguska event' more than a century ago. Health officials said 46 of the injured remain hospitalised.

This collection of security camera footage from in and around central Russia on Friday shows curious and awestruck spectators swarming to windows to see the cause of the strange, blinding flash. Few expected the long delay before a sonic blast-wave shattered windows, tore doors off hinges and sent people running.

The meteor has since started something of a gold-rush with fragments generating strong black market interest.

Residents of nearby towns have been rushing out into the snow in the hunt for the tell-tale small holes that mark the presence of the precious objects.

Sales offers already are filling the Internet, and police are warning all purchasers to prepare for possible fraud.

A woman leaves a shop with a broken window in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Picture: Boris Kaulin

As workers continue replacing acres of broken glass worth an estimated $33 million, NASA has revealed the 10,000 ton meteor released 500 kilotons of energy - the equivalent to more than 30 Hiroshima bombs - when it exploded over Chebarkul Lake in Russia's Ural Mountains.

It was first sighted 6500km away, over Alaska, and burnt through the atmosphere for some 32.5 seconds.

The blast showered the ground with thousands of small fragments and left a six-meter-wide hole in the ice covering the lake.

Scientists from Urals Federal University say initial results show the remains, mostly less than a centimetre in size, belong to the condrite type of meteor which contains about 10 per cent iron.

"We would expect an event of this magnitude to occur once every 100 years on average," said Paul Chodas of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office.

In this photo distributed by the Urals Federal University Press Service a researcher examines pieces of a meteorite in a laboratory in Yekaterinburg.

"When you have a fireball of this size we would expect a large number of meteorites to reach the surface and in this case there were probably some large ones."

With agencies

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