Garda sergeants and inspectors to strike for four days next month

Garda sergeants and inspectors have decided to join their rank and file colleagues on four days of strike action next month.

The decision was arrived at during a special delegate conference in Athlone, Co Westmeath, this afternoon and after what the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) called a “four-year failed negotiation process”.

The decision ramps up the pressure on the Government which is already reeling from the decision by the Garda Representative Association (GRA) to strike on the four Fridays of next month; from 7am each day and for 24 hours.

The decision by the AGSI to join the action on that day presents an unprecedented crisis for Government and Garda Headquarters.

There are 10,500 rank and file gardai in the GRA and approximately 2,000 Garda sergeants and inspectors in the AGSI.

It means about 12,500 members in a Garda force of just over 13,000 are no set to strike on four days next month in a row over pay.

Because the leaders of AGSI and the GRA, or any other member of the force, is banned from inducing others to withdraw their labour and would face prosecution for doing it, the strike action has been presented by both as a decision for each of its members.

They are campaigning for the restoration of pay cuts in the recession, with the AGSI having already lodged a claim of 16.5 per cent.

As well as announcing that its members will withdraw their labour next month on four occasions, thr AGSI has also unveiled what it calls further forms of industrial action described as “an escalation approach”.

They will refuse to log onto the Garda’s computerised Pulse database on Friday October 21st and 28th and refuse to complete paperwork-base tasks.

While pay restoration is its key goal, the AGSI is also seeking access to direct negotiations in the Workplace Relations Commission and Labour Court on future pay deals, as well as recognition and implementation of a 2013 decision of the EU's Social Committee, which would permit members of An Garda Síochána to strike and participate in trade union action.

AGSI president Antoinette Cunningham said members had "decided overwhelmingly" to proceed with industrial action.

“We did not take this decision lightly, however we feel we have no choice but to show Government how serious we are about restoring pay for our members,” she said.

“We also hope that senior Garda management will respect our decision to take this action.

“We illustrated the long and winding road of pay talks in a detailed series of infographics on screen at our conference and these facts tell their own story.”

In response to comments by Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar suggesting that he public will not support gardaí if they strike, Ms Cunningham said the Government would be better finding ways to resolve the pay dispute than pitch the public against the Garda.

“Our members have been inundated with messages of support from people in our communities who have sympathy for the position we find ourselves in,” she said.

“Our 2,000 members speak to members of the public daily and we are always taking the temperature of public opinion.

“”We care about what the public think because we work to serve them.

“We have been subjected to a campaign of media criticism by politicians whose time would be better served trying to solve these matters rather than splitting the Gardai and the public they serve.”

Earlier on Monday Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said the Government is focused on finding a negotiated settlement to the industrial relations dispute involving gardaí.

Ms Fitzgerald said the focus was “finding a pathway forward to negotiate with both organisations”.

The Minister said she was committed to providing the Garda representative bodies with access to the Workplace Relations Commission and Labour Court. The Department of Justice is meeting the GRA for talks on the pay issue tomorrow and has invited the AGSI to talks.

“The Government and I want to find a way forward that is fair to AGSI who like so many other public sector workers have had very difficult times in recent years, that is fair to AGSI, that is fair to the broader public sector worker force and to the taxpayer.”

The participation of the two Garda groups and the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) in industrial action at the same time would represent a significant challenge to the Government’s public service pay policy.

As well as pay restoration, Agsi is also seeking access to direct negotiations in the Workplace Relations Commission and Labour Court on future pay deals, as well as recognition and implementation of a 2013 decision of the EU’s Social Committee, which would permit members of An Garda Síochána to strike and participate in trade union action.