LAST UPDATE | 19 Apr 2022

IRISH DEFENCE FORCES officers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of membership of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), setting them on a potential collision course with Government. 

The membership of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO) said 85% voted in favour of the move. The group represents more than 1,200 permanent Defence Force officers, from Officer Cadet to Colonel ranks.  

The vote is significant as the law at present, as contained in the Defence Amendment Act 1990, says that Raco and PDFORRA, which represents rank and file soldiers, aircrew and sailors, cannot be “associated with or affiliated to any trade union or any other body”. 

The next step in the process is for the Minister for Defence Simon Coveney to review the ballot result and decide if he will consent to RACO’s Associate membership of ICTU. 

As previously reported by The Journal, the Irish Defence Forces is in a staffing crisis. RACO has said poor pay and conditions are to blame for the crisis and that lack of respect for the armed forces within Government is a contributing factor.

The group’s General Secretary Conor King said that Raco’s membership had “lost faith” in the pay negotiation process. 

“Three successive rounds of pay talks have seen our members marginalised and excluded from fair process as a result of our weakened industrial relations status.

“Members have lost faith in the ability of the parallel process to recognise and compensate for the unique restrictions of Defence Forces service.

“This, coupled with the deliberate weakening of the Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme by the official side, has resulted in our members seeking a new approach to pay negotiations,” he said. 

Deputy General Secretary Derek Priestley said that the fact that Defence Forces personnel cannot go on strike means that their loyalty has been exploited.

RACO Acting President Brian Coughlan added that ICTU membership would ensure that Defence Forces personnel at officer rank would be involved in pay discussions.  

“Associating with ICTU could mean that the next time our members vote on a pay deal, their representatives will at least have been involved in the design and detail of the agreement, with their specific concerns recognised and included. Up to now, this hasn’t been the case,” he said. 

RACO said that the Defence Forces representative associations have been prevented from negotiating pay deals on behalf of their members in successive pay negotiations, and denied parity of esteem, despite commitments from government and civil and military management.

The Permanent Defence Forces Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme was seen as a way to fix this but RACO said this has been “deliberately undermined” because it is without an adjudicator for nine months. 

As members of the Defence Forces cannot join a trade union the scheme was set up to balance their negotiating status during pay agreements.   

Conciliation and Arbitration Branch staff oversee and manage the implementation of the Public Service Pay Agreements in respect of the Defence Forces. The Branch also develops terms and conditions for new entrants and promotion competitions in the Defence Forces.

RACO and PDFORRA have said that this system is not working. 

Mark Keane, PDFORRA President has welcomed the RACO vote and said it is now an opportunity for the Government to show “good faith” in the membership of the Defence Forces.

“Naturally we don’t comment on the activity of other representative bodies but given our standing commitment as an association to ICTU we would like to say we recognise why RACO members voted to accept affiliation to ICTU.

“PDFORRA can only hope that the Minister will agree to the membership of ICTU for PDFORRA and RACO sooner rather than later – it could demonstrate good faith to representative associations.

“We’ve been actively seeking this since 1994 – it is the corner stone of PDFORRA policy. Following our successful complaint to the European Social Rights Committee it shows that it is now time to allow access to ICTU for the rep bodies,” he said. 

In a submission to the Commission on the Defence Forces ICTU said that it was unfair to members of the Defence Forces to be excluded from the full negotiations of pay. 

ICTU has changed its membership rules to allow RACO and PDFORRA join but not participate in certain activities which may be in conflict of its mandate.

The Department of Defence refused to comment and said: “There is ongoing litigation on the issue of ICTU association.  It is therefore not appropriate for the Minister to comment at this time.”