Thread by @CllrPioSmith

Worth remembering the following: 2014, EUROMIL, in support of one of its Irish member association, namely the Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association (PDFORRA), lodged a complaint against Ireland for violating Articles 5 and 6 of the European Social Charter

as regards the rights of Irish military personnel to organise and bargain collectively. The complaint dealt with the fact that Irish military associations do not have full trade union rights including the right to join an umbrella organisation such as ICTU (the Irish Congress of

Trade Unions. This means that military associations are kept out of the overall national negotiations that ICTU conduct on behalf of their members, such as those on salaries in the public service. the ECSR reported to the Committee of Ministers on its decision regarding the

merits of the complaint and found 1)A violation of Article 5 of the Charter – on grounds of the prohibition against military representative associations from joining national employees’ organisations

2) A violation of Article 6§2 of the Charter – due to the insufficient access of military representative associations to pay agreement discussions (essential role of pay bargaining for the purposes of Article 6);

No violation of Article 6§4 of the Charter regarding the right to strike.
Collective bargaining, including pay bargaining, is explicitly recognized for military personnel, who should ultimately exercise their right to collective bargaining by the intermediary of professional

associations that are able to fully participate in negotiations and establish collective agreements. Committee takes notes that while the military representative associations are consulted in a parallel process to the public service agreements, they are not however directly

Involved the negotiations as they are not affiliated to ICTU. It notes that little information has been provided on this parallel process and how it effectively ensures meaningful consultation as opposed to a mere hearing. Therefore the Committee cannot conclude that the military

representative associations are meaningfully consulted over pay during discussions on public service agreements.
 
All of this happened over 3 years ago and nothing has changed. How is this still being allowed to continue. @simoncoveney @EamonRyan