Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I echo the sentiment expressed by my colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh, regarding this being a step in the right direction, but it really is just a step and is not what the Garda representative organisations want. They want trade union status, to be represented by a recognised trade union and to have the protections that gives. It is interesting that the people in these buildings who have drafted this legislation have access to a trade union. It is not outrageous to suggest that people should have access to trade union representation.

It was pointed out that members of the Garda and Defence Forces were special and not like other workers. That may be true, but both of the major political parties - we often say that they are in government together - treated them the same as every other worker when cutting their pay. There was no special status accorded to them then. I was a full-time union organiser with SIPTU in 2009 when we joined up with firefighters, prison officers and nurses from other trade unions and members of the Garda.

We would have joined up with the members of the Defence Forces also but that was not permitted. We formed an organisation called the 24/7 alliance. During that time, I had occasion to speak and work closely with members of An Garda Síochána. We teased out the issue of access to industrial relations machinery, what that would mean and how one could ultimately get some value out of it. Around the same time, I had a case before the Labour Court, which I won. The recommendation made by the court entitled the members in question to a small amount of compensation. I could not get the recommendation enforced and I returned to the Labour Court to see if anything could be done. The then chairman of the Labour Court was blunt with me and told me I knew what I could do, which was to get out the ballot box and ballot for industrial action.

In a voluntarist system of industrial relations the journey to the end of the road is a long one. Deputy Ó Snodaigh outlined the wait involved in getting access to the industrial relations machinery but a significant amount of time is spent at local level before one even gets to that point. One then gets to the Workplace Relations Commission, the WRC, which was previously the Labour Relations Commission, LRC, and even sometimes when one wins the case, one must still have recourse to a ballot for industrial action. There are hundreds of thousands of unionised workers in this State and very few days have been lost to strikes. That is a testament to the men and women working in industrial relations, human resources and the WRC. Strikes are very rare.

I stress that Sinn Féin welcomes this Bill as a step in the right direction. However, these workers are to be treated differently from other workers. Another worker who has won a case at the Labour Court but cannot get enforcement of the recommendation has recourse to industrial action. Does the Minister of State have plans to give members of An Garda Síochána and, I hope, members of the Defence Forces, if they are included in the scope of the Bill, the option to take this final step? He said they cannot take industrial action but what option is open to them given that strike action is the last resort? We have not lost many days to strike action for a long time. We hit a peak sometime in the 1970s. I worked in industrial relations for a long time, as did my father, and I have a small amount of knowledge of the issue. Strike action is the last action one will take. When it is taken it is because it is necessary and there is no other avenue. Will consideration be given to ensuring there is a mechanism for enforcement? Other workers have such a mechanism, namely, the withdrawal of their labour.

The refusal to allow members of An Garda Síochána access to a trade union and full trade union status is short-sighted. That is what gardaí want and if it is not provided via this legislation, consideration must be given to how gardaí will be able to use the industrial relations mechanisms. Once members of the Garda have access to the WRC and the Labour Court, how will a recommendation be enforced when a member of the Garda wins a case and reaches the end of the road? Having represented public service workers, I can tell the Minister of State that there is zero appetite on the part of human resource managers to simply accept someone has won a case in the Labour Court and then write the cheque or make the necessary change to conditions. It does not work like that. Some sort of recourse is needed to be able to make good on foot of the recommendations of the Labour Court because in a voluntarist system they are nothing more than recommendations. In the event that the Labour Court makes a recommendation and the members reject it, what happens then? Does the Government simply tell members of An Garda Síochána that it has legislated to give them the right to be unhappy about the outcome of a Labour Court case and they should not go about their business? It is a little pointless if there is nothing at the end of the process to which they can aspire, as they would do if they were members of a trade union.

I do not wish to be overly negative. I say that based on my experience. In 2009, when the threat of pay cuts was very real and we formed the 24/7 alliance, I had lengthy discussions with members of An Garda Síochána and their representatives and full trade union status and access to the third party machinery was certainly what they were seeking at that time. Access to the third party machinery is a welcome step but consideration must be given to what it means in the event that the third party machinery does not deliver or is not capable of delivering for those workers. I remind the Minister of State that when it came to cutting pay, the Government treated these groups the same as every single other worker in the State. It is a little harsh for them to hear that they are special except when it comes to pay cuts.

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