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Press releasesREF: PR/50/07 DATE: 12th October 2007 To: ALL POLITICAL PRESS RELEASE Government Pay Submission Treats Prison Officers With ContemptToday, 12th October 2007, the submissions for public sector prison staff in England and Wales have been exchanged. The Prison Service on behalf of the government has put forward a pay submission for 2008/09 which once again is an insult to the professional men and women of the Prison Service looking after 81,000 prisoners. For the 3rd year running a derogatory pay submission has been made to the Pay Review Body; not just below inflation but one that offers 52% of prison officers nothing and offers the other 48%, a one off payment for 2008 that is the equivalent to less than £45.00 per month before tax and national insurance are deducted. The POA are furious that their members are being treated with utter contempt at a time when government and prison service have been wasting millions of pounds of public money on consultants, large bonuses for strike breakers and the propping up of the failed National Offender Management Services. Previous promises made by Jack Straw and other government officials have not been upheld. Colin Moses National Chairman of the POA said: “We are currently trying to seek a resolution to last year’s pay debacle and to be made aware of the Government’s disgraceful pay offer for 2008 will further attack an already demoralised workforce. “At a time of record prison numbers, the government’s answer to this seems to be to drive down the salaries of those charged with protecting the public and expecting no reaction to this. This is a government that has totally betrayed prison staff, and loyal public servants. Brian Caton General Secretary of the POA said: “We have a clear mandate from the members of this Union and that mandate will be carried out if the recommendations of the Prison Service and government are accepted by the Pay Review Body. “We call on the Pay Review Body to demonstrate its true independence by ignoring the strings placed on public sector pay by the government; to dismiss the insulting submission from the Prison Service and recommend a fair and just pay award to the professional men and women of the Prison Service. Failure to demonstrate its independence will lead to a “spring of discontent” for the already overcrowded, under-resourced and dangerous prisons in our communities”.
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