At around 7am on the morning of Friday 21 September 2018, all prison officers in the United Kingdom walked out of their prisons, leaving only a skeleton staff. They had been called out by their union, the POA (Prison Officers Association). The prison officers claimed that they were entitled to walk out for health and safety reasons, notwithstanding a statutory prohibition on strike action by them and permanent injunctive relief that had previously been granted against the POA to prevent strike action. Jonathan Cohen QC and Alex Robson of Littleton Chambers were instructed by the Government to obtain immediate injunctive relief against the POA. At around 3.45 pm, as the parties were walking into Court for the application to be heard, the POA withdrew their instruction to staff and the action ended.
