Prison Officers' Clocking-In Dispute Resolved

A dispute that seen 3,000 prison officers around the country stage one-hour work stoppages in December has been resolved today.

An agreement was reached over the location of clocking-in machines in Irish prisons.

Prison officers and management backed an independent ruling that staff would record their attendance for work after going through a security search.

Work stoppages were originally against the plans to place the instruments after staff security check areas. The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) argued the move extended their working day, with officers being searched on their own time before registering for duty.

However, Brian Purcell, Director General of the Irish Prison Service, said the decision has satisfied the organisation’s concerns.

“Prison Officers will clock-in for payment purposes before and adjacent to the security screen measures as put forward by Prison Service Management,” he said.

“Once clocking-in has taken place there will be no facility available to circumvent the security arrangements whatsoever – officers will proceed immediately through the security screening process.

“After the security screening measures have taken place, a further recording will be introduced in order to confirm compliance with the security measures.

“This decision satisfies the IPS concerns that all staff must be searched prior to being cleared for duty.”

(VB)