Frontline unions to campaign against cuts
Executives of the Association of Garda Sergeants, the Garda Representative Association, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, the Psychiatric Nurses Association, and the Prison Officers Association will gather in Croke Park to review Labour Relations Commission recommendations.
“The 24/7 Alliance will be reaffirming its belief that the proposals that have emerged are grossly unfair and inequitable and seek to take money from the low- and middle-income public servants who have no more to give,” the alliance said.
It said the meeting will discuss a collective strategy to be rolled out in the coming weeks.
The alliance said it will also review how it can liaise with other unions opposed to the proposals.
“This will be for the purpose of securing the strongest campaign possible against these unfair proposals, in the interests of our collective membership.”
The most controversial element of the LRC recommendation for frontline workers is the cuts to premium payments. The union side was able to negotiate the Government down from abolishing “twilight” and Saturday premium payments and cutting Sunday payments from double time to time and a half.
In the full LRC recommendation, it is proposed that management review staffing levels in an attempt to reduce the number of people doing Sunday shifts.
Following talks, this was scaled back to abolishing twilight payments and cutting Sunday payments to time and three-quarters. Saturday payments remained untouched.
Meanwhile, Garda sources say the proposals have done nothing to dampen the anger among rank and file officers.
The Garda Representative Association is due to meet on Thursday to discuss the situation and gauge the appetite of members for stepping up their campaign. Gardaí are legally prohibited from engaging in any form of industrial action, but it is believed representatives have a number of tactics in mind which would show the strength of feeling.
The source said: “The feedback from members around the country remains the same. Some people are very stretched and gardaí cannot afford to take any more.”
