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2009

Frontline unions warn Government they will fight any further cuts

Date Released: 14 Oct 2009

“Our relationship with the State is not a one way street”, the Vice President of the Garda Representative Association Damien McCarthy warned the Government at the final regional meeting of the 24/7 Frontline Service Alliance in The Helix in Dublin this evening. “This Government has repeatedly refused to meet with the Garda Representative Association and has denied us access to any industrial relations mechanism. They have pushed us into a corner.”

He was speaking at the concluding rally in a series attended by 5,000 frontline workers including gardai, nurses, fire fighters, prison officers, ambulance drivers and individual members of the Permanent Defence Forces, even though their representative body PDFORRA has been ordered not to associate with the Alliance. The Dublin meeting began with a minute’s silence to mark the deaths of Captain Derek Furniss and Cadet David Jevens of the Air Corps in Galway yesterday.

Mr. McCarthy said that up to 60 per cent of GRA members had joined the force within the past ten years, were on relatively low paid and had negative equity debts on over grossly priced homes. “I will not recap on the anger we all share at the unrestricted greed of our financial and political leaders”, he said.

“Gardaí have a relationship with the State based on patriotism and loyalty. Since 1922 we have maintained our pledge to the Irish people. When members are attested they are mindful of the commitment they are making and the implications this has for their life. They take this oath freely with the understanding that the State is making a similar commitment to them in return.

“I made a decision to choose a certain career path in the public service. I chose to become a Garda during an era of unprecedented wealth in this country. I was never under the impression that the state of the economy would dictate my rate of pay. No other western police force has cut pay of its officers - ever.

“Since the start of the year, this Government has tried to unravel this relationship, but only from their viewpoint and under their terms. They have made five consecutive attacks on garda pay, and while we have taken every possible step to oppose cuts in pay, so far these cries have fallen on deaf ears.”

Senior members of the force were “withdrawing their labour in the only way they legally can, by taking retirement when the option becomes available to them. Many more plan to leave by the end of November. Other public service unions are balloting their members to gain a mandate for industrial events. We are denied the right to do this.

“We have stayed within the law and abided by the strict Garda Code. But the Government persists in cutting garda pay, breeching all agreements ever made with members of garda rank. The rulebook has gone, regrettably with the assistance of our own management. This Government has repeatedly refused to meet with the Garda Representative Association and has denied us access to any industrial relations mechanism. They have pushed us into a corner.”

The 11,600 members of the GRA were making their voice heard through the Frontline Alliance. “As this opening phase of the Alliance is complete, we must decide what our next action will be. Rest assured there will be honest action. Our action will be honest because we have the moral authority, and the unfairness and inequity of the situation will demand that we stand resolute. Our relationship with the State is not a one way street.”

The General Secretary of the Irish Nurses Organisation, Liam Doran, said that the meetings had “galvanised frontline staff into action. We have seen up to 5,000 members of our various organisations come to the meetings in Sligo, Cork, Kilkenny and Dublin.

“We have also built a strong relationship with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and we are all united in protecting public services and in building unity between public and private sector workers. This meeting tonight completes the first phase of our campaign and, having taken stock of the views expressed by our members at these meetings, we will now be planning the next phase.

“The scale of  support shown by members to defend frontline services and conditions has left us in no doubt about where they stand and, where it is possible to do so, affiliated unions will be commencing ballots for industrial action in defence of those services and conditions. We cannot tolerate a situation where those who created the crisis are protected while those who have to cope with the ensuing mess also have to foot the bill. This a price being exacted not alone from them but the public they serve.”

The General Secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, Joe Dirwan said his organisation had joined the 24/7 Frontline Service Alliance because it represented 100,000 shift workers who provided the public with essential services. Allowances “targeted by Colm McCarthy  and his Bord Snip report” could result in cutbacks of up to a third in pay for Garda Siochana members if implemented. In promoting these proposals, the Government, IBEC and ISME had “played a blinder. They have successfully shifted the focus of blame away from their own shameless incompetence and moved it onto the working men and women of the public service.”

He added, “We make no apology for our allowances which, by the way, we pay full tax on. We work for our allowances 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We attend at horrific car crashes.  We deal with drunken prisoners and drunken groups outside discos.  We cut victims out of mangled cars.  We deal with people carrying infectious diseases.  We work in overcrowded and understaffed Accident and Emergency departments.

“We give full value for money. We are not the highly paid consultants who wasted €200 million on the PPARS debacle or €50 million on useless electronic voting machines.  Where were the McCarthy proposals to prevent that type of waste happening?  Where are the Government proposals to halt the appalling waste represented by Dail expenses? Where are the proposals to cut the number of TDs and abolish the Senate?

“Let me make one thing clear.  We in the public service have already suffered a pay cut in the order of 12.5 per cent, all things considered.  We will not take any more.” The Government was trying to bring terms of employment back to the 1970's, but the work environment was now much worse with members “having to wear stab vests routinely”.  He added that, “Last year 200 Gardaí were seriously injured on duty.”

The Deputy General Secretary of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, Seamus Murphy said, “Day after day the Government and media are talking about thousands of jobs being lost in the private sector, while public service jobs are being protected, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Government embargo is preventing jobs from being filled by those retiring, or resigning.

“In nursing about 3,000 nurses will have retired or resigned this year, almost none of whom are being replaced. At the same time 2,000 nurses are graduating, almost none of whom will be employed in Ireland. If that is not job losses, what is?

“Two thousand eager, highly qualified young people left on the scrap heap. If the same numbers were let go from a private industry and none replaced, it would quite rightly be seen as a national disaster. The public do not realise yet the impact that the loss of 3,000 nurses will have on our health services. However it is quite obvious to us that sick banks are being cared for at the expense of sick people.

“Psychiatric services are being cut at a time when there was never a greater need for them. Research shows that in times of recession suicide rates increase substantially. At present there are 3,600 children and adolescents on waiting lists for psychiatric evaluation.”

SIPTU National Nursing Official Louise O’Reilly said, “Our members’ anger is heightened when they read the contents of the McCarthy report against the backdrop of the profligate spending of senior Government politicians on limousines and five star hotels.

“I would challenge any of them to work a shift on the frontline with a nurse a paramedic or a fire fighter and see if they too won’t agree with the Tánaiste that some of the cuts in the McCarthy report make no sense. In fact none of them do.”

“We have been overwhelmed with the response of our members to date at the regional meetings.  It is past time that those in the public service who provide essential services on a 24/7 basis stood up for themselves and their wages.  Our members do some of the most important work undertaken by this state and they should never apologise for the wages that they earn nor should they be afraid to let this government know that they are taking their threats very seriously and they are prepared to stand up and defend public servants and public services.”

The General Secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association, John Clinton, said the “relentless campaign” against frontline workers left the public thinking that members worked a 34 hour week for massive salaries and Rolls Royce pensions. We must also support the ICTU campaign and work to ensure that public sector workers, especially those we represent in this alliance, do not become the easy targets and the scapegoats. We are already paying our fair share; let’s look at the facts:

  • We are already on a pay freeze
  • We already have another pay cut disguised as a pension levy
  • We are paying a health levy and an income levy
  • We have an embargo on recruitment and numbers - which makes our working conditions more difficult

“As for those who try to suggest there is a divide in the trade union movement, I want to say we have the support of Congress for our position. We met in Tralee last Wednesday with ICTU President Jack O’Connor, Vice President Patricia King and General Secretary David Begg. All of us were firmly of the view that if public service pay was pushed down further workers in the private sector would be targeted as well - a move that would be fully supported as part of the IBEC agenda.

“We must not allow a situation to develop where present or future difficulties in the public finances will be dealt with in isolation by targeting workers. We cannot and must not become a permanent source of funds for a Government who are lacking in ideas and the courage to go after those who created this mess.”





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