Aircraft will be grounded if technician pay is not reviewed, union warns

Delegates attending the PDForra conference at the INEC, Killarney, Co Kerry. Picture: Dan Linehan

PDForra has called on the Government to honour the commitments made in the high-level implementation plan regarding a review of technicians pay, warning that the failure to do so could lead to aircraft being grounded.

Gerard Guinan, the association's general secretary, said his members were “deeply concerned” about the self-imposed limitations that were placed upon the review of technician pay grades 2-6.

“The review undertaken by the Department of Defence, in conjunction with military management, didn't provide for increases of pay to those members of the Defence Forces who were at the top of the scale, including senior aircraft inspectors, personnel in communications positions, and other sensitive areas,” Mr Guinan said.

PDForra is also concerned with the lack of increases in allowances for specialist drivers, naval divers, ordnance artificers, and sensor airborne radar operators, who are scheduled to commence work on new aircraft and operate equipment worth tens of millions of euro.

In the same way that ships have not been able to be put to sea recently, it's quite possible that specialist work within the Defence Forces may not be able to be completed due to a lack of suitably qualified and experienced staff.” 

Mr Guinan also said that the Government's own high-level implementation plan had provided for the implementation of the technician review within months of the publication of the Public Service Pay Commissions report in 2019.

“However, our association had to fight tooth and nail to get what came from the original report outside of the Sectoral Bargaining Fund which, if not agreed, would have seen line personnel receive less than the 1% increase in basic pay in February 2022,” Mr Guinan said.

“I know from having spoken with many personnel in specialist positions over the past few months, they are despondent with many contemplating departure from the Defence Forces in the coming months now the pandemic has passed,” he said.

Mr Guinan said that if matters are allowed to rumble along, in a manner consistent with past practices, "the State will wake up one morning in a position that aircraft cannot protect our skies and sea".