Garda sergeants, inspectors could withdraw service in roster dispute with Commissioner

Garda sergeants and inspectors could withdraw their service, a strike in all but name, as the dispute over new rosters between members of the force and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris worsens. The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (Agsi) on Monday decided unanimously to undertake “days of action” in protest at the new rosters being planned by Mr Harris.

Agsi general secretary, Antoinette Cunningham, said the first day of action, next Monday, would involve 100 of her members marching in protest to Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin, to hand in a letter outlining their concerns. She added those marching would be off duty on the day.

She said that service could not be guaranteed after the organisation’s delegate conference next month “if the associations’ concerns are not addressed in full”.

Ms Cunningham added her members may decide, as individuals, to withdraw their service - rather than such an action being organised by Agsi, would would be illegal. She said Garda members had “no idea” what their new rosters would be when, under Mr Harris’s plans, the current rostering system ended on April 16th. That situation, with no certainty, had prevailed since March 2020 when the pandemic rosters were introduced.

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Ms Cunningham pointed out undertakings were given at the time that when the pandemic emergency rosters ended, Garda members would move back to their usual rosters. However, this “has not been honoured” and as a result her members were “lurching from month to month” and feel stress and anxiety because of the uncertainty around their future working patterns. As a result, her members had “had enough of that” and had decided unanimously to vote in favour of the days of action.

About 140 members of the association, which represents almost 2,000 Garda sergeants and inspectors, held a special meeting in Athlone, Co Westmeath, on Monday morning at which the leadership was mandated to commence the “days of action” plan.

The association said it had been moved to act because there had been a “failure” of Mr Harris to “appropriately address health, safety and welfare concerns” of its members relating to planned new rostering arrangements. Both Agsi and the Garda Representative Association (GRA) are opposed to new rosters, which would see the scrapping of 12-hour shifts introduced for the pandemic period and which have proven very popular across the force.

Under the new plans, for most Garda members the number of hours they work each week would be spread over a larger number of days and some would also lose additional payments for working unsocial hours.

[ Garda ‘struggling’ with policing demands operations due to ‘very alarming’ decline in numbers ]

“The membership is angry, upset and frustrated that just over five weeks from now they do not know what their work pattern is, a situation which would be unacceptable in any other workplace,” Ms Cunningham said after Monday’s meeting. “A ballot of the membership on new roster proposals was rejected by Agsi members in October 2022, and a dispute on the matter commenced then. Agsi have sought that roster negotiations are reopened but the Garda commissioner has refused to allow this.”

Depending on the outcome of next Monday’s day of action, a second day of protest would be organised before Agsi’s annual conference in Galway from April 3rd to 5th, at which all future options would be considered.

In reply to queries, Garda Headquarters said it does not comment on “internal industrial relations”.

However, it added Mr Harris last month wrote to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) to request assistance from its conciliation service on the reform of the Garda rosters. The WRC has since confirmed its services would be available and Mr Harris hoped the Garda staff associations would agree to attend.

Despite three years of talks, and all mechanisms within the Garda having been exhausted with no consensus, Mr Harris was committed to “reaching a solution as soon as possible”.

Whatever roster was put in place, it should be one that “serves the public and supports the most vulnerable in society, ensures the health and wellbeing of gardaí, and allows the commissioner to effectively and efficiently manage the organisation within the budget available”.

[ Garda representatives refuse to accept new roster proposals ]

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, gardaí have been on a special roster that maximises the numbers on duty and means members working four 12-hour days followed by four days off. Mr Harris wants to introduce new arrangements. When negotiations failed to reach agreement last year, a facilitator was brought in, though both AGSI and the GRA refused to accept its conclusions.

The proposed new rostering system would mean gardaí rostered for a mixture of eight-, 10- and 12-hour shifts. Frontline gardaí who have to work a mixture of night and day shifts would be mostly on 12-hour rosters.

Non-core gardaí, such as detectives, community policing officers and others who are not rostered on a 24-7 basis, will mostly be on eight-hour shifts. It is being opposed on the grounds it involves fewer days off and, some Garda member say, a loss in allowances of up to €2,000 annually. The new proposed roster is also seen as less predictable.