South Australian prison guards have walked off the job to protest the privatisation of the Adelaide Remand Centre - but the state government says it will not back away from the decision.
The Public Service Association organised the rally, held on the steps of Parliament House, after last week's state budget revealed plans to privatise management of the centre and cut more jobs across the public sector.
ACTU national secretary Sally McManus told the crowd she brought the support of the trade union movement, while PSA president Michael Griffiths said workers had been betrayed by the new government.
"Steven Marshall came to the PSA in February and told us... that his government would not, would not have any privatisation agenda," he told the crowd.
"Half a year later and here we are, the Adelaide Remand Centre to be privatised and threats to SA Pathology and medical imaging."
One of the workers, who did not wish to be named, said employees were united in their opposition to the plans.
"We're going to keep fighting this. This is not the end of it, this is only the start of it," he said.
Treasurer Rob Lucas, speaking after the rally, said the government had never promised the centre would not be privatised and the union's claim was "absolute nonsense".
"I wrote a letter... that said the then-Labor government had, on occasions, used outsourcing and commercialising where it was in the public interest to do so," he said.
"We reserved absolutely the right to do exactly the same."
He said there was no chance he would reverse the decision to privatise the remand centre, and that the government would continue to clean-up the "financial mess" it inherited.
Prisons across the state were in lockdown as the rally unfolded, with the lack of staff forcing the cancellation of some court hearings.
Mr Lucas said it was unfortunate the industrial action had affected the courts system, and one case had been postponed until the end of the year.
"The early advice I've had is that there are a small number of cases that have had to be deferred," he said.
The SA Employment Tribunal over the weekend ordered PSA members to maintain minimum staff levels in the prisons during the protest.
The union initially had refused to guarantee minimum staffing in the prisons, a situation the government said put the safety of prisoners and the wider community at risk.
Mr Lucas described the tribunal's decision as a victory for common sense.
