Prison staff balloted over searches

PRISON officers are being balloted for strike action because of plans to make them submit to being searched before they have clocked in for work.

According to the Prison Officers’ Association, (POA) one of a number of security measures announced by the Department of Justice earlier this year was new search areas which were due to be introduced towards the end of this year. According to a bulletin issued to members by the POA this week: “At a meeting of the national executive council held on October 1, the council was informed by the national officers that the prison service had made a unilateral decision without agreement that the time recording clocks presently situated at the main entrances of the prisons are to be removed from their present locations, to locations behind the proposed new staff search areas.

“The relocating of the time clocks means that management are expecting staff to be searched on their own time before they have the opportunity to clock in, which is a breach of previous agreements.”