PDFORRA takes fight for union recognition to Europe

The organisation which represents rank-and-file members of the army, navy, and air corps has lodged a case for official union recognition in Europe and expects to have a positive decision on it within a year.

PDFORRA (Permanent Defence Forces Other Ranks’ Representative Association) has lodged the case under the European Social Charter because it has been excluded from national wage negotiations as it is not recognised as being a member of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).

Gerry Rooney, PDFORRA general secretary, said being sidelined from previous national wage negotiations had put his near 7,000 members at a disadvantage and it was time to right that wrong.

If union recognition is forthcoming under the European Committee of Social Rights Charter, it would give soldiers, sailors, and air personnel the right to strike, but Mr Rooney said there “was no appetite for that”.

“We just want to have the right to negotiate,” he said, adding that his members had suffered significantly from cuts during the recession and many of them were poorly paid in the first place.

A trained soldier who has just qualified as a private earns little over €20,000 a year — but could be asked to lay down their life for their country.

There have been horror stories in the past year of how poorly paid some Defence Forces member are.

It is estimated that around 20% of PDFORRA members are on such low pay that they are in receipt of Family Income Supplement.

At the representative association’s conference last year, PDFORRA bosses highlighted cases of Defence Force members sleeping in cars because they couldn’t afford the petrol to return home to their families at night.

Defence Minister Simon Coveney promised to ensure that no member of the military would have to endure that again.

Mr Rooney estimates that since the recession began his members have seen their income cut by around 20%.

“Our ultimate goal is to claw back those wages which were lost; and being outside the national wage negotiations has put us at a disadvantage as we didn’t have any clout,” Mr Rooney said.

PDForra decided to lodge the case in Europe after the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) won the right to union recognition.

Last October, the Council of Europe upheld an earlier ruling by the ECSR to allow AGSI members to participate in trade union action, including strikes. The ruling followed a complaint by the AGSI against the government ban on their participation in trade union action.

The AGSI action took about two years to go through the European courts process, but Mr Rooney expects a swifter response for his members.

He said PDForra and AGSI cases had a lot in common so the ESCR was likely to have already amassed a significant amount of information on the relevant issues which he hoped would lead to a decision on the military case within a year.