Both sides declare victory over ‘clocking in’ prison row

THE “clocking in” dispute between prison officers and management ended with both sides claiming victory.

The row, which saw two days of industrial action by staff, centred on the introduction of new security screening measures and whether staff would go through them before or after they clocked in for work.

The dispute saw a deterioration in the relationship between Prison Service director general Brian Purcell and the Prison Officers’ Association.

Mr Purcell had accused the association of breaching national agreements by taking strike action and said those agreements allowed for third-party arbitration to deal with disputes.

He said officers already had a 10-minute grace period in relation to clocking in. The association claimed it was unfair on staff who arrived at work on time, but who might clock in late after getting through the screening gate. They claimed this would happen given the large number of officers going through the gates at the same time.

Two strike actions were taken on November 30 and December 12 last.

The association said it welcomed a decision issued by the civil service arbitrator, which said clocks for clocking in purposes would be placed “before and adjacent to the security screening areas”.

Eugene Dennehy, deputy general secretary of the association, said: “This welcome decision from the adjudicator essentially affirms the POA stance on this issue.

“This dispute emerged because Prison Management tried to ignore a previous agreement on the positioning of clocks for clocking-in.”

A statement by Mr Purcell, issued by the Prison Service, said: “The adjudicator found that prison officers will clock-in for payment purposes before and adjacent to the security screen measures as put forward by Prison Service Management.

“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.”