Soldiers' representatives may pursue grievances against the Government over working conditions to the European Court, the leader of the non-commissioned ranks' staff association has warned. Mr John Lucey, general secretary of the Permanent Defence Forces Other Ranks Representative Association (PDFORRA) gave the warning during his address to his association's sixth annual conference in Tralee yesterday.
He stated that the Government was breaching EU directives on working conditions in respect of some military personnel, and this could be challenged in the European Court.
The conference heard on Wednesday that soldiers were being made to work 72-hour weeks because of staff shortages arising from cutbacks imposed on the Defence Forces under a major voluntary redundancy scheme. Soldiers who had provided patrols on the Border during last year's BSE scare had worked particularly long hours without the benefit of overtime.
Mr Lucey said: "PDFORRA has been forced to forge strong links with the European Trade Union Congress through Euromil (the European association of military representatives bodies), the European Parliament and the European Commission.
"Will it be necessary to take our grievance to the European Court in the future? We will certainly resort to the European Court if it becomes necessary.
"We have been driven to lobby politically, make use of the media, and now we turn to Europe to face the new threat of Government's use of EU directives to exclude military personnel.
"The reality is we cannot trust our own legislators to do right for the country's military personnel. This is nothing new."
Mr Lucey also attacked the Government's policy of excluding military and Garda representatives from direct pay talks under the national wage negotiations.
He said: "I don't think any of you doubt that the level of representation that we are allowed is inadequate.
"We are being driven to confront the Government on the conduct of successive governments in managing change in the Defence Forces and the shoddy treatment being meted out to members of the Defence Forces in relation to pay and conditions of service. This confrontation should be measured and without emotion because clearly the representative process has lost much credibility."
He went on: "We saw the nurses, prison officers and paramedics exercise their right to strike or threaten to strike in direct contravention of the PCW agreement.
"And, to add insult to injury, the Government that was denying us our negotiating rights broke its own agreement. It caved in to demands.
"But our similar demands were dismissed as excessive, or we are called disloyal or trouble-makers. We are told we should be thankful that we are so well off: or the great catch-all is cited: that all cost-increasing demands are excluded under the agreement."
He said PDFORRA "cannot continue to ask our membership to be patient."