Prison Officer

cordub

Rawhead wrote: »

The union will be unable to do anything about whats coming down the line. If we walk out the gates they will send the mules and the sandbaggers in like before and they will leave us outside till we beg for our jobs back (don't be under any allusion that the mules won't come in and scab, they will baton us out the gates for OT).
I think one of the following two things will happen,

1. We will achieve the 21 million cost cutting that is required but it will have all been in vain because there is no way Education or the HSE will ever get their houses in order and they will just end up cutting wages again (rent and unsocial hours etc.) We are only small fry but they will cut everyone again.
2. The easiest solution to all the managements problems is flashing like a big neon sign "ROSTER CHANGE". In one swift move they will get 24 extra working days out of every officer, that is the equivalent to recruiting 300 extra officers for free. The AH system is collapsing because it was designed with a base amount of officers that was needed for it to work, the recruitment ban has caused that number to drop below the minimum and that is why the system is f$cked. They are never going to allow numbers to return to minimum levels so the AH system is gone unless they change the rosters.

I would guess option 2 is the one management will go for............

jesus lads your depressing me now !! #How can they make us work EXTRA 24 hours when the working week is a fixed hours??? They will have to pay us to work extra!!! Even if they change rosters we cannot be forced to work over the hours!!! /we went on strike for this roster I was there and I can tell you a change in it wont be accepted very easily !!! I agree if we strike again we will be left out as they have 1 thing to their advantage this time the prisoners will be much quieter as they have tvs !!! I think they should temporarily raise the AH bands till things start moving again !!

Rawhead

cordub wrote: »

jesus lads your depressing me now !! #How can they make us work EXTRA 24 hours when the working week is a fixed hours??? They will have to pay us to work extra!!! Even if they change rosters we cannot be forced to work over the hours!!! /we went on strike for this roster I was there and I can tell you a change in it wont be accepted very easily !!! I agree if we strike again we will be left out as they have 1 thing to their advantage this time the prisoners will be much quieter as they have tvs !!! I think they should temporarily raise the AH bands till things start moving again !!

The roster will change from a core 8-8 to a core 9-7:30, you will be working the same amount of hours, just more days.
9am start, straight into unlock.
7:30 finish, no grace periods anymore.
Why do you think the union is trying everything they can to make these 21 million savings thing work, they know what is waiting in the shadows.

We all know that the job is a difficult one that had 2 big things going for it.
1. Good money
2. Good time off
Money is only average now and it looks like they want to take away our time off as well.

Sorry to be the minister of misery on this lovely bank holiday weekend but this is whats facing us.

cordub

Rawhead wrote: »

The roster will change from a core 8-8 to a core 9-7:30, you will be working the same amount of hours, just more days.
9am start, straight into unlock.
7:30 finish, no grace periods anymore.
Why do you think the union is trying everything they can to make these 21 million savings thing work, they know what is waiting in the shadows.

We all know that the job is a difficult one that had 2 big things going for it.
1. Good money
2. Good time off
Money is only average now and it looks like they want to take away our time off as well.

Sorry to be the minister of misery on this lovely bank holiday weekend but this is whats facing us.

where are you getting this information from?? the agm in 2 weeks time should be interesting .

bitter_lemon

who really cares anymore? i sure don't!

480905

cordub wrote: »

jesus lads your depressing me now !! #How can they make us work EXTRA 24 hours when the working week is a fixed hours??? They will have to pay us to work extra!!! Even if they change rosters we cannot be forced to work over the hours!!! /we went on strike for this roster I was there and I can tell you a change in it wont be accepted very easily !!! I agree if we strike again we will be left out as they have 1 thing to their advantage this time the prisoners will be much quieter as they have tvs !!! I think they should temporarily raise the AH bands till things start moving again !!

I'll take you back a couple of years to The Irish Ferries situation. They sent in teams of private security thugs to take the Irish staff off by force , or whatever means necessary. If the Government thought they'd get away with that I'm sure they'd try something similar. They replaced them with a cheaper labour force. Make no mistake , we are the bottom of the totem pole. Prison
Staff are a necessary evil ,that Joe public neither knows about nor wants to.
I can hear everybody saying " they can't do that"!!! It's a brave new world folks, they can do anything they like. Brussels control everything now, and if Alan Shatter and Inda Kinny are told to do something by his EU pay masters, then be under no illusion.... THEY'LL DO IT.

bitter_lemon

480905 wrote: »

I'll take you back a couple of years to The Irish Ferries situation. They sent in teams of private security thugs to take the Irish staff off by force , or whatever means necessary. If the Government thought they'd get away with that I'm sure they'd try something similar. They replaced them with a cheaper labour force. Make no mistake , we are the bottom of the totem pole. Prison
Staff are a necessary evil ,that Joe public neither knows about nor wants to.
I can hear everybody saying " they can't do that"!!! It's a brave new world folks, they can do anything they like. Brussels control everything now, and if Alan Shatter and Inda Kinny are told to do something by his EU pay masters, then be under no illusion.... THEY'LL DO IT.

this is the reason i don't care anymore. i believe this to be the situation.
"they can't do that" i hear them cry. they can and they will and we will take it and either
a) spend our time whinging and getting angry and bitter
or
b) stay positive. get through it.

people that have a substantial amount of service time in my opinion have no right to whinge. you lived through the good times. you reaped the benefits. you are very lucky!

cordub

bitter_lemon wrote: »

this is the reason i don't care anymore. i believe this to be the situation.
"they can't do that" i hear them cry. they can and they will and we will take it and either
a) spend our time whinging and getting angry and bitter
or
b) stay positive. get through it.

people that have a substantial amount of service time in my opinion have no right to whinge. you lived through the good times. you reaped the benefits. you are very lucky!

disagree with you BL i dont think we should sit back and do nothing at all. I am one of the lucky ones with only 5 years left in the job but anything good that was got ie the roster was fought long and hard for so I for 1 wont be sitting back even though i have the least to loose .I whinge because I was one of the people who had no wage for 4 weeks and got 10 pound from the union to live on . remember when we went out on strike we didnt know how long it would be for it could have gone on for months, Mortgages and sills still had to be paid so i somewhat feel I do have some right to whinge!!

480905

Be under no illusion, Brussels are running the country now, thanks to the Lisbon Treaty. The Government are only figureheads. What happened after Noonan and co were appointed?? Off to Brussels to get their instructions, but according to the media it was to fight for our tax rate or some sh!te like that... BOLLOX. They were being told to implement X Y and Z to prove their worthiness. Watch and see... It's happening with McCarthy now... Sell every state asset...including Coillte and all our forests etc...

bitter_lemon

cordub wrote: »

disagree with you BL i dont think we should sit back and do nothing at all. I am one of the lucky ones with only 5 years left in the job but anything good that was got ie the roster was fought long and hard for so I for 1 wont be sitting back even though i have the least to loose .I whinge because I was one of the people who had no wage for 4 weeks and got 10 pound from the union to live on . remember when we went out on strike we didnt know how long it would be for it could have gone on for months, Mortgages and sills still had to be paid so i somewhat feel I do have some right to whinge!!

well welcome to my world now. its much harder now regarding cost of living
with all due respect 4 weeks is nothing.

what are you going to do about it cordub? actively i mean not just grumble?
the reality is it is out of your hands. it is out of my hands. it is out of all of our hands.
i truly envy the situation you are in coming to the end of your service. it was good to you. you cannot deny that.

tubes46

10 pound a week while on strike was 10 pound to much. the unions are why we are where we are. a shower of fat lazy good for nothings with nothing to do but moan. sad very sad.

senordingdong

tubes46 wrote: »

the unions are why we are where we are. a shower of fat lazy good for nothings with nothing to do but moan. sad very sad.

Well, them and the people that they represented.

cordub

I would have been utterly ashamed to have been management today of a certain prison.Was at a funeral of a fellow comrade today and the staff were told by senior management that they were not allowed time off to go to the burial even though they had been carrying the coffin in the church,Shame on them it really goes to show the contempt with which the basic grade officer is thought of in the service!!! Obviously the order was not folowed and we gave our buddy a great old send off in true prison service fashion .RIP Dave the first of our group to leave us!!:(:(:( a sad day

Salmon

Sorry to hear that! Real them and us stuff there!

cordub

Salmon wrote: »

Sorry to hear that! Real them and us stuff there!

A bloody disgrace is what it is , what has happened to ordinary decency and treating people with respect??? The saddest part was the prisoners actually volunteered to cancel their visits this pm because of the high regard they held the officer in and then the staff are told come back straight away, a sorry state of affairs to be thought so little of !!

Salmon

Probably not the best forum to discuss it but I think that there needs to be some major changes in attitudes! What if the deceased involved was wore a cheap suit (if you know what I mean)? I'm sure they would have recieved a better send off!

cordub

Salmon wrote: »

Probably not the best forum to discuss it but I think that there needs to be some major changes in attitudes! What if the deceased involved was wore a cheap suit (if you know what I mean)? I'm sure they would have recieved a better send off!

I wonder if that attitude is thought in Beladd or are they being handpicked like that?? Feckers am feeling very bitterlemonish tonight ;) sick and sad thing is the man in question came in to the jail last week and was presented with his long service award and a big lot of SUITS attended , two faced feckers , anyway rant over , as they say your only just a number to some:(

Salmon

Dont think beladd is to blame to be fair! Have heard rumours of people looking for promotion feeling the need to "distance themselves from the staff" though so I guess it's an attitude that's encouraged from Longford!

cordub

Salmon wrote: »

Dont think beladd is to blame to be fair! Have heard rumours of people looking for promotion feeling the need to "distance themselves from the staff" though so I guess it's an attitude that's encouraged from Longford!

Your probably right am just annoyed now anyway !! just dont get how people cant respect people at times like this when we all know at times of crisis in the prison service we would never hesitate to help our fellow officer!! It must explain why I never climbed the ladder;););)

Rawhead

RIP the officer who passed.
I'm going to play devil's advocate here. The prison in question is Ireland's only high security jail. If the Governor decided to let all the due on officers off to go to the funeral and the roof went off the place he'd be hung and properly so. I 100% agree that the relationship between officers and management is nasty and that most Governors hold the dirtbirds in higher regard than their officers, but the warder can be a awkward animal also.
Volunteers from next door could have been sought to provide cover and they could have been paid out of pooled hours. I think it would have been a bit Irish to expect that officers be left understaffed while the rest of their colleagues were up the road filling it.......

cordub

Rawhead wrote: »

RIP the officer who passed.
I'm going to play devil's advocate here. The prison in question is Ireland's only high security jail. If the Governor decided to let all the due on officers off to go to the funeral and the roof went off the place he'd be hung and properly so. I 100% agree that the relationship between officers and management is nasty and that most Governors hold the dirtbirds in higher regard than their officers, but the warder can be a awkward animal also.
Volunteers from next door could have been sought to provide cover and they could have been paid out of pooled hours. I think it would have been a bit Irish to expect that officers be left understaffed while the rest of their colleagues were up the road filling it.......

Your absolutly right raw head i totally agree with you about letting all the officers off but there were 4 yes 4 men in question here 1 of which trained with the officer who died!!As it was the family off the officer changed the funeral time to facilitate more officers being able to attend ie lunch time!! :mad::mad:

480905

RIP Walshy. Couldn't make it down.
Hey lads , keep it country about the giving out. Not for an internet forum. At least in the locker room it's hearsay, on here they can prove stuff if they want to get you. The watchers watch this forum . Be advised .

Shield

480905 wrote: »

The watchers watch this forum

Very true.

Rawhead

Fair enough. I agree that the relationship between the bosses and warders is horrendous at the moment and is probably going to get worse.

480905

I know they can be arseholeš but all we need do is rise above it and get on with it. They can have their power trips , but if you do what you're supposed to you can't go far wrong. They have their jobs to do and we have ours.... And the job still has to be done...Whatever we think of people, but once we continue to be professional and let them decide how they want to conduct themselves. I've always treated people as how I'd like to be treated, prisoners, Staff AND Governors and it hasn't done me any harm yet.
Don't give them a stick to beat you with

cordub

480905 wrote: »

I know they can be arseholeš but all we need do is rise above it and get on with it. They can have their power trips , but if you do what you're supposed to you can't go far wrong. They have their jobs to do and we have ours.... And the job still has to be done...Whatever we think of people, but once we continue to be professional and let them decide how they want to conduct themselves. I've always treated people as how I'd like to be treated, prisoners, Staff AND Governors and it hasn't done me any harm yet.
Don't give them a stick to beat you with

I would the same sentiments myself normally just a bit touchy at the moment :( I do my job and get on ok with the powers that be . I must add i am not working in the place that im complaining about thank god ;)

480905

senordingdong wrote: »

Well, them and the people that they represented.

Of which you are now one.....

bitter_lemon

480905 wrote: »

Not for an internet forum. At least in the locker room it's hearsay, on here they can prove stuff if they want to get you. The watchers watch this forum . Be advised .

i agree. i know you are angry and annoyed and disappointed cordub in the IPS. but they are aware of everything.
i am sorry it has come to this but unfortunately this is the way it has become.
usually if they are understaffed they just let a few representatives of the union go to a funeral of a colleague or family.
unfortunately staff numbers are very dodgy these days and in defense they would let people go if they had the numbers but they simply don't anymore.
a private forum would be no different because they too would infiltrate it and rat back.

bitter lemon is bitter for a reason

touareg

First of all would like to say RIP too a gentle man who always put a smile on people s faces . . you shall be missed dave . ..to cordub in cork ....negativity and contempt and hear say never brings anything positive to our job . ..there are still good people in our job at every level . .but like everything in life it all get s personal at some stage .. .. .

cordub

touareg wrote: »

First of all would like to say RIP too a gentle man who always put a smile on people s faces . . you shall be missed dave . ..to cordub in cork ....negativity and contempt and hear say never brings anything positive to our job . ..there are still good people in our job at every level . .but like everything in life it all get s personal at some stage .. .. .

Your dead right that negativity etc , doesnt bring anything positive to our job and yes I know of and work with good people at every level too , but sometimes when things get personal we see some things in a different light , so onwards we trudge and do as dave would ,do with a smile and a joke and say feck em ;)

glhoran121

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0505/prison.html
Justice Minister Alan Shatter has said there has been a dramatic increase in the number of prisoners in the country's jails and is the highest it has ever been.