Prison officers suspended over industrial action

The Department of Corrections is defending its decision to suspend 97 prison officers for taking industrial action, saying the safety of staff and prisoners was at risk.

The suspensions coincided with claims that the president of the Corrections Association of New Zealand (Canz), Beven Hanlon, has been gagged by the department and is under threat of dismissal.

Around 140 union members, who work as Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE) instructors, yesterday began industrial action by refusing to complete some paper work.

CIE manager Brent Maughan said he was "disappointed" with the actions of the union, which has been locked in a bitter pay dispute with the department for the past four years.

The department had "no choice" but to suspend the officers, and had warned them what would happen if they went ahead with their action.

"Some of the paperwork Canz members have refused to undertake is vitally important and is needed to ensure staff have the most up-to-date information on prisoners," Mr Maughan said yesterday.

"Without it, Corrections is unable to guarantee either staff or prisoner safety ...

"We informed Canz officials that Corrections would proceed with this course of action last week and today a number of Canz members have decided not to proceed with the action."

The action only affected a small proportion of Corrections' 5300- strong workforce and contingency plans were in place to minimise the impact, Mr Maughan said.

He disputed the union's claims that members had not received a pay rise in four years, saying staff already received "fair market rates".

Corrections was unable to confirm whether some pay offers amounted to a decrease, nor whether non-union staff had been offered higher rates.

Mr Maughan said some progress had been made in mediation, and Corrections had undertaken to provide staff with a formal offer on a short-term collective agreement.

A Canz spokesman said the department had offered the workers what was effectively a pay decrease of 2 per cent, but the eight staff who were not part of the union were given a pay rise of 8 per cent.

The latest action follows a strike by Canz members last month.

The spokesman said the union planned to follow the present action with refusals to complete more paper work.

- NZPA