THE GARDA REPRESENTATIVE ASSOCIATION has criticised remarks by SIPTU vice-president Patricia King, over the association’s decision to leave the discussions on the ‘Croke Park 2′ public pay deal.
King told RTÉ’s News at One that Garda bodies could have been treated similarly to prison officers and firefighters – who are reported to have secured sector-specific agreements parallel to the Croke Park proposals – if they had not withdrawn from the talks.
King said firefighters were an example of a group who had undergone massive internal restructuring to cut down on spending, and of whom it would be unfair to ask for more financial contributions.
“Even if you take the Gardaí, they had done substantial roster changes,” King said, contending that Gardai could have achieved a similar sectoral-specific deal if they had engaged in the talks.
It was reported this morning that firefighters and prison officers had negotiated their own deals, parallel to those of Croke Park 2, under which Sunday premiums and twilight allowances would be retained, in exchange for concession on lower overtime rates.
This evening the Garda Representative Association condemned King’s assertions, outlining that Garda unions – which are not permitted to join the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, with whom the talks are held – were not allowed to partake in the negotiations.
“The previous government was prepared to negotiate the Transformation Agenda of the original Croke Park Deal directly with us, providing huge savings through efficiencies and new rostering arrangements,” GRA president John Parker said this evening.
Trade unions, however, have always insisted on excluding Gardaí from negotiations on pay. [...] Let’s put this notion to rest: the Gardaí were never invited into the main talks and have been excluded, since the formation of the State, from negotiations on matters of Garda pay.
Parker said it was therefore impossible for Gardaí to engage constructively in the talks and look to negotiate their own sectoral agreements, as they were never given the platform to offer input. “It is disingenuous of Government and Trade Unions to suggest otherwise,” he said.
He added that Garda resources meant arrangements of the style reported to have been offered to prison officers and firefighters would not be feasible anyway.
While it may have been deemed possible to remove one fire officer from a vehicle for a Sunday shift, so that their premium pay could be redistributed to the other staff on duty, Garda resources made it impossible to do likewise.
“We don’t have a lot of these facilities,” he said. “We end up having two or three Gardaí working in some districts sometimes.”
Parker said Gardaí had made many sacrifices under the original Croke Park reforms and felt they were now being sidelined by having the original Croke Park deal removed and replaced with one they had no chance to have input in.
“Gardaí have made sacrifices in their pay and working conditions, and are now singled out for unfair treatment. Can anyone be surprised that gardaí feel betrayed, angry and disillusioned?”
The GRA stopped attending the negotiations – where they were held in a separate room and given occasional briefings of the negotiations taking place next-door – at the beginning of February.
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