The Ulster Unionist Party’s Justice spokesperson, Doug Beattie MC MLA, has called on the DUP and Sinn Fein to reach agreement so that an Executive can be restored and important decisions taken, not least regarding public sector pay awards.
Doug Beattie MC said:
“It is now clear that the lack of an Executive and departmental ministers is beginning to bite. Not only has the DUP voted at Westminster to retain the 1% pay freeze with public sector workers, it now seems that there will be no pay award for many in the public sector until an Executive gets up and running and Ministers are appointed.
“Recently I wrote to the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB) to ask if they will soon be deliberating on the pay award for Prison officers for this financial year. The award was meant to be in place by the start of the financial year – April – but any delay would be back paid. I have now learned that although the Justice Minister wrote to the pay review body to request their assistance in setting the pay award and although the PSPRB visited three Northern Ireland prisons by the end of March 2017, that is as far as they can proceed.
“I have been informed by the Chair of the PSPRB that the Northern Ireland Prison service (NIPS) is no longer in a position to send evidence to the PSPRB to support a pay award as this evidence would need to be signed off by the Justice Minister. The PSPRB also need an oral evidence session with the Minister for Justice and the Finance Minister to help inform their review.
“In collapsing the Executive - in their words - due to respect, equality and parity of esteem for all the people of Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein are in fact disproportionately targeting the very public sector workers they have in the past claimed to be vigorously defending. It is clear Sinn Fein’s actions in collapsing the Executive did not take into account the hardship they would inflict on these poorly paid workers, and their actions are no different from the DUP in opposing the lifting of the 1% pay freeze.
“The NIPS, Prison Escorting and Court Custody Service will now have to wait until a new minister is appointed to the Department of Justice, and this can only happen if the Executive gets up and running or the Secretary of State (SoS) reinstates direct rule. If this is the case for the NIPS, I can only conclude that it will be the same for the nurses, teachers and many other public sector workers.
“As an MLA I call on Sinn Fein and the DUP to reinstate the Executive. If they cannot then failure will inevitably lead to the Secretary of State having to take action that can address issues such as pay awards for public sector workers. It is totally unacceptable that in Northern Ireland the many should continue to be held back by the few.”