Thursday, 20th
April 2017
info@eastcorkjournal.ie
Agreement Reached on Naval Overseas Pay
by SEAMUS WHELEHAN
The government have
pledged to deliver on a promise of extra pay for naval personnel on over- seas deployment. PDFORA the repre-
sentative group for the permanent defence forc- es agreed an additional payment of €15 per day after striking a deal with Minister for Defence Paul Keogh. The
arrangement
means that crew mem- bers who took part in the migrant rescue mis- sion, operation Pontus will receive an additional €1,300. The Agreement is spe-
cific to Operation Pontus and commits both PD- FORRA and the De-
partment of Defence to enter into negotiations on the appropriate lev- el of payments that are to apply to humanitari- an-type missions in the future. Under the
overseas
peace support allowance, crew are paid a standard rate of €55 per day. The crews who helped over 15,000 migrants who fled their North African homes, had argued they were entitled to a higher rate as they were oper- ating in a highly volatile situation. PDFORA content-
ed the naval crews were entitled to €80 per day, a similar pay scale to that of their army coun- terparts on peacekeep- ing duty in
the Golan Heights, on the border
of war thorn Syria. PDFORA Vice Pres-
ident Mark Keane who is based in Haulbowline welcomed the news but said it was “disappoint- ing” it took almost two years to reach an agree- ment. The deputy president
said crews were regular- ly armed for their own protection and they of- ten handed over people smugglers to Italian au- thority’s they would have to segregate on board. Mr Keane said the de-
fence forces are in crisis with hundreds leaving as a result of poor pay and conditions.
In 2016 700 dis- charged from the
de-
fence force of just over 9,000. Last year 106 left the
naval service due to poor pay. A further 6 left this year with more intending to leave. PDFORA have calcu-
lated that crew on over- seas operations can work up to 105 per week for as little as €4.32 per hour. Recruits are so badly
paid they can earn just €64 more than some dole recipients and one in five in receipt of Family In- come Supplement. PDFORA hope to en-
ter further talks with the government
later this
month as they attempt to reverse a 10% pay cut imposed on recruits’ post 2013. They say they will
“fight tooth and nail” to resist attempts to cut full sick pay from 26 weeks to 13 weeks.
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