Explainer: Why are gardaí taking industrial action?

Gardaí will withdraw from doing overtime for five days this month, including Halloween. But how did it come to this?

TODAY MARKS THE first Tuesday of five where rank and file gardaí are taking industrial action.

Over the next month, gardaí will be withdrawing from overtime on Budget Day, Halloween and three other dates, including today.

The highly public back-and-forth between the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris culminated in a vote of no confidence in him.

Despite this, the government continues to back the Commissioner, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar today denying that the State is deflecting its responsibility in the wake of garda strikes.

So why have gardaí resorted to industrial action?

There is a misconception that the crux of the tension is pay. While you won’t find gardaí gushing about the working conditions, that’s not what they say triggered recent industrial action.

Rosters

The Commissioner decided to implement a new roster system, which was met with outrage from the first mention.

The roster will see gardaí come off a four on four off 12-hour shift rotation and put them on a six on four off 10-hour shift roster.

The group claims Harris ‘lacks logic’ as there are not enough gardaí to fulfill staffing levels of the new arrangement.

Despite opposition, Harris has committed himself to follow through with the roster changes on 6 November, with the support of the Justice Minister.

McEntee said: “Everybody wants to find a way forward. Everybody wants a roster that’s fit for the world that we live in, that provides the best service possible but that also allows for work life balance that responds to the needs of the members themselves.

“This is why discussions need to intensify. This is why we need all of the associations around the table.”

Talks are at a stalemate and the GRA has said it won’t return to the table until Harris agrees to halt the roster changes.

The Journal understands that the absence of gardaí working overtime has meant that there are fewer car patrols in some areas today. Some major protection posts in Dublin have been affected, with local stations having to fill the gap left by an absence of overtime volunteers. However, this should not affect emergency callouts.

Recruitment and retention

The President of the GRA also said that it “wasn’t just rosters” that brought about the organisation’s decision to hold a vote of no confidence in Harris.

Brendan O’Connor said the GRA had seen a “deterioration” in the relationship with the Commissioner in recent years.

There has been ongoing recruitment crisis alongside an exodus of dissatisfied gardaí.

McEntee said that solving retention issues is a priority but, according to the GRA, not enough has been done.

Firstly, there has been an increase in the number of trainee gardaí resigning before their probationary period ends, with over 50 trainees quitting in 2021, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act.

For serving gardaí, the cost of living crisis has been cited as one reason some see their positions as untenable.

For gardaí recruited after 2013, the pension conditions are considered subpar.

There are a myriad of factors contributing to the force’s decreasing morale. The GRA told the Garda Central Executive Committee that issues have been exacerbated by a lack of appropriate training and care for the wellbeing of members.

It also criticised the “current suspensions policy and constant red tape and bureaucracy”.

Additionally, a study by the GRA found that bullying and workplace stress are pushing out members.

It’s not only within the force that tensions are rising, as the public have begun to notice the cracks, some of which could have serious consequences. Hundreds of emergency calls have gone without response in recent months, as a shortage of gardaí on duty has made timely dispatches sometimes impossible.

Industrial Action

The issues are numerous and likely won’t be sorted out before November.

This round of action has been nicknamed the “Drew Flu” – which is a reference to their 1998 withdrawal of labour known as the “Blue Flu”, when gardaí called in sick in a dispute over pay and conditions.

In 2010, gardaí collectively chose to stop taking work calls on their personal phones in a protest of pay cuts.

Laptops, GPS devices and cameras owned personally by gardaí also weren’t used during the strike.

The last time industrial action was threatened was in 2016, when gardaí said they would go on strike for four days in November. The days of action were cancelled at the last-minute after the Labour Court intervened and drew up a list of recommendations, which were later accepted.

With Harris refusing to budge, there is every chance industrial action will persist. How far the GRA will take this, and whether they will employ past disruptive tactics, is yet to be seen.