Prison officers would have to pay back an £8.5 million pay increase if a legal challenge taken by dissident members of their union succeeds, the Prison Officers' Association claimed yesterday.
Six officers have obtained an injunction against the POA, challenging the ballot on the pay increase of between 5.2 and 12.9 per cent which was passed last summer. The challenge, which threatens to split the association, could overturn the pay deal, POA president Mr Michael Lawton said.
There would be a reduction of up to £46 a week, Mr Lawton claimed, if the pay deal was reversed. And the deal would have to be renegotiated.
"Is anyone seriously suggesting that this is a realistic option in the present climate? Is anyone seriously suggesting that we hand back to the Minister for Finance 12.9 per cent of basic pay?"
The chairman of the Northern Ireland POA, Mr Finlay Spratt, said that up to 1,200 prison officers' jobs could be lost as a result of releases under the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Spratt said the association was willing to pay this price for peace, but the Government would have to compensate officers. Prisoners would be given rehabilitation and financial assistance, he said. There was also a need to "rehabilitate prison officers."
Mr Spratt said plans were still in place for a protest between 8 and 9 a.m. on Monday against comments by the Maze prison governor, Mr Martin Mogg, that prison officers were opposed to the peace deal because of the job losses.
Up to 2,500 prison officers are expected to take part in a mass walkout at all prisons in Northern Ireland.
Mr Mogg has since apologised for his comments, made to a House of Commons committee last Wednesday.
The national chairman of the POA for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Mr Mark Healy, said members were "incensed" by Mr Mogg's comments. "To suggest that somehow we would be opposed to the peace deal is wrong and would not reflect the views of the POA."
