The Prison Officers' Association (POA) has become the latest public sector union to recommend its members reject the deal on pay and conditions agreed between the Government and unions.
Delegates at the POA annual conference in Killarney, Co Kerry, debated the merits of the deal in a closed session this morning culminating with a vote during which they opted to recommend the deal’s rejection.
Some 103 delegates voted for recommending rejection with just 17 voting for the POA to recommend to its members acceptance of the deal.
The four-hour session during which the deal was debated this morning was closed to the media.
However, sources said many delegates who addressed the conference during the session spoke of their distrust of the Government in relation to the implementation of the Croke Park deal.
POA president Jim Mitchell said a ballot of the association’s near 3,400 members would now be taken, with the recommendation that they reject the deal.
Earlier this week, many delegates at the Garda Representative Association’s (GRA) annual delegate conference in Limerick City also expressed their distrust of the Government in relation to the deal.
The association’s executive has not made any decision yet in terms of recommending acceptance or rejection of the deal to its near 12,500 members. It wants to consider the deal further and get clarification on a number of issues including proposed changes to rostering.