Rank-and-file gardaí to engage in work-to-rule during EU presidency meetings next month

Rank-and-file gardaí are to engage in a work-to-rule action for five days next month during EU presidency meetings.Following a meeting of the Garda Representative Association’s (GRA) central executive committee on Thursday, members were told they would be moving to a work-to-rule position on November 10th-14th.The action will coincide with the European Political Community meeting in Dublin on November 12th, as well as an informal meeting of the EU heads of state or government the following day.GRA general secretary Ronan Slevin said further action was possible as it was “clear that our members’ working terms and conditions, including subsistence and travel entitlements, are being deliberately eroded”.READ MORE“The GRA’s executive will now meet on Monday morning, accompanied by their legal counsel, to discuss this position and further accelerated actions right up to and including a withdrawal of services,” he told members.Meanwhile, in a statement issued by Garda headquarters on Thursday, Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said overtime would be reduced from next month following complaints from the GRA.“The GRA have said to me that gardaí are working too much overtime. I have discussed this with deputy commissioner, policing operations, and it has been agreed that we will soon reduce the amount of overtime available once we complete some forthcoming major events such as the EPC in mid-November,” he said.“Gardaí have once again demonstrated their professionalism and dedication during the EU presidency. I have received many compliments on this work from the Government, State agencies and international policing and security colleagues.”For the work-to-rule, all members stationed in the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) have been told to report for duty at their home station at the beginning of their shifts and to “wait to be transported” to their points of duty.All members within 100km of their points of duty in the DMR and Shannon will take similar action. Those stationed more than 100km from their points of duty in the DMR and Shannon were told not to use their private vehicles to travel.[ Garda numbers set to reach record levels but GRA says growth ‘nowhere near enough’vOpens in new window ]Thursday’s meeting followed a GRA survey of members with 94 per cent of respondents affirming they were “dissatisfied with Garda management’s continued and intentional breaching of the working time agreement” and that they were willing to engage in industrial action.A similar number of respondents said they would back a work-to-rule position for upcoming EU presidency events.Turnout for the survey was 45-47 per cent of the 11,600 GRA members.Speaking in Cavan on Thursday, Kelly said the number of gardaí supporting the action was a “minority” in the organisation.He said the number of members in the overall organisation supportive of such action was “only about a quarter”.[ Donald Trump’s visit forecast to cost Garda up to €30mOpens in new window ]However, he said he was “not unsympathetic” to members, noting a number of large events requiring policing this year, including US president Donald Trump’s visit in September.The commissioner described the European political convention as a “very big event”, saying he was confident members would put “their shoulders to the wheel”.The rank-and-file gardaí are pushing for the implementation of enhancements in subsistence and travel payments that they say have been agreed by the Workplace Relations Commission, as well as a working-time agreement from two years ago.Slevin previously said Garda management had been in breach of the working-time agreement since the beginning of the EU presidency, and that some of the GRA’s members have been “consistently working 20, 25, even 30 hours over their scheduled weekly hours”.