PDFORRA wages war over two-tier pay structure for soldiers

PDFORRA, the association representing soldiers, sailors and aircrew of the Permanent Defence Force (PDF), is attending this morning (Fridaiy) at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) for talks on a dispute with Government over measures to end the two tier pay structure for 2013 entrants of Private rank.

“The young men and women affected by this dispute earn extremely low initial wages of €21,800 per annum.   PDFORRA is determined to ensure that these fully trained and operational members are treated the same as other entry level public servants,” said Gerry Rooney, PDFORRA General Secretary.

“Our recently recruited members are being wrongly treated as second class citizens and this is totally unacceptable”. 

Mr Rooney said that access to the facilitation services of the WRC is unprecedented for PDFORRA and will hopefully assist in reaching a satisfactory outcome on restoration of pay under the Haddington Rd Agreement.

“The WRC is particularly well placed to assist in our dispute because it concerns, in our view, the correct and just application of the terms of the Agreement.

He continued, “PDFORRA has reached an understanding with Department of Defence officials on a pay scale which complies with the Haddington Rd Agreement and continues to deliver on pay savings.

“To our immense surprise the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (D PER) has distanced itself from the understanding with Dept of Defence, without explanation. This unexplained and unjust attitude of DPER is a major breakdown in the trust which should be an integral part of the negotiation process around the Lansdowne Road agreement.  PDFORRA will be continuing its fight on this vitally important issue if a successful outcome cannot be achieved today”.