Why are the Fire Service against ‘Modernisation’?

No one within the Fire Service or FBU is against Modernisation. In fact the vast majority of modernisation has been led by Firefighters pushing for new working practices such as changes to firefighting methods. Both the FBU and our employers have been working for many years on moving the Fire Service forwards in all areas of work and service delivery, both with our individual and joint ideas.

So why do the Government say you wont modernise?

We have no idea why they keep saying this. In fact we do everything they already say we should! Things they say we won’t do for example are:

• Attending incidents with Full and Part Time Firefighters working together

• Working overtime

• Doing First Aid procedures

• Promoting Equal opportunities

• Carrying certain equipment

• Look at new shift systems

We do each and every one of these each and every day of the week and whenever asked we negotiate further. For the Government to keep on saying such nonsense simply makes them look ever more foolish.

So Part Time and Full Time Firefighters do work together?

Of course we do. The only time we don’t is if for example an incident is in a station area needing only one appliance. Then the nearest one available will attended regardless if it is a full time or part time crew.

The Government have said they want to have Part Time Firefighters on the same appliance as Full Time Firefighters. It has been pointed out that while there is no problem with this as a working practice it would mean an appliance being delayed in responding if, for example, a Part Time crew had to wait for a Full Time Firefighter to get to the station or visa versa. We don’t think this would benefit the public as delays can cost lives.

Why is overtime not worked in the Fire Service?

In fact it is every day of the week! Whoever heard of a Firefighter cutting someone free in a Train or Car crash saying “Sorry have to stop now as my shift is over!?” Its utter nonsense.

We have always tried to ensure Firefighters watches (shifts) are fully staffed and not allowed to run short as this leads to additional risks per Firefighter. Government figures also show that running short of staff in all workplaces such as factories and offices leads to increased stress and sickness levels. This in turn leads to more injuries and more absences. For the fire service it simply makes a cycle which gets harder and harder to break if there are constant staff shortages being propped up instead of having the agreed number of people in post.

Why wont Firefighters do other work such as First Aid?

We are amazed the Government would even make such an unfounded accusation. We are fully trained in First Aid and we also carry things such as neck collars, resuscitators, spine boards, oxygen, advanced first aid kits, etc. In fact many of us have commendations for keeping people alive with our skills until ambulance crews get to the scene. Clearly some Ministers and M.P.’s are completely unaware of the equipment carried on a Fire Engine and the work that Firefighters actually do!

We cannot however hope to be paramedics the training for which is given to properly qualified ambulance staff. We would not expect an ambulance crew to deal with a fire or chemical spillage nor would we like to be given the police job of arresting people.

We are all skilled in our separate roles. Simply using blue lights and sirens does not means we can do each others job any more than a train driver could fly an aeroplane, a pilot could drive a bus or a coach driver could drive a train. They are all transport systems but are clearly dependant on different skills.

So it’s untrue that you don’t help women and ethnic minorities into the Fire Service then?

This was not only an untrue accusation by Government but also completely contradictory to what reports from the same Government have said. The FBU has led the way in recruiting and attracting more people into the Fire Service from right across the population of the UK. This matter will be fully dealt with after our dispute is over as a separate matter entirely. We will not, and cannot, accept any such accusation from this or any other Government as it is wholly false as many shame-faced government officials have now admitted.

What is wrong with a change to the duty system?

The duty system now being worked gives Firefighters three days on rota leave following a 48 hour shift over two days and nights. It is cost effective and is no small reason why the Audit Commission constantly praise the Fire Service for being so cost effective and prudent in its finances.

So you will accept less Firefighters on duty at Night?

NO. We cannot allow people to be put at greater risk of death and injury. It would be foolish in the extreme to have fewer firefighters on duty at the very time the Governments own figures show that the public, particularly the elderly and children, are at greatest risk.

We have asked the Government why they want less firefighters protecting the public at the time of greatest life risk but they refuse to give a straight answer to a simple question.

Why is the FBU making a stand against a Labour Government?

We will make a stand against anyone who refuses to negotiate fairly with us or who interferes in negotiations with our employers. We cannot stand back and watch not only our pay and conditions of work deteriorate but public safety eroded. Our record in protecting the public over many years has proven beyond any doubt that public safety remains the major concern of the Fire Service.

What exactly is the Fire Cover Review and why has it not been published?

At present people get a Fire Service based largely on how many buildings their local area has. If someone lives in a city they will get 3 fire engines to a fire, two in five minutes and another within eight. Still not quickly enough if they are trapped in a room by fire but a person in a village may only get one fire engine in 20 minutes!

It has long seemed unfair to us that Mr Blair who has a home in London will get three fire engines to a fire there yet at the weekend at his Buckinghamshire residence the area only gets one fire engine in 20 minutes. It seems unfair that his live protection from the Fire Service alters depending on where he lives in the country or what day of the week it is.

The Fire Cover Review showed that we should have Life not property as the main criteria for providing a more efficient fire service. After 4 years of work a seminar in London in April showed how we could better protect the public. Now, just 8 months on, it has been shelved as the Government say they won’t provide the money to save more lives. We think this is disgraceful.

We urge everyone to demand that their life and those of their family and friends are as well protected as every other person in the UK by having the Fire Cover Review implemented.

Firefighters were stunned when this Government simply shelved the Review. So much for caring about people. Perhaps they simply want to wait until closer election time to raise it again with more false hopes and promises.

Is it true that 40 people apply for every Fire Service Job?

NO. It varies with the particular job but for a Firefighters vacancy the Government have said there are 40 people waiting to fill the post. In fact over 200 apply for each post but it is just that. An application form completed. The medical tests and standards, the practical and physical testing and the entrance tests and exams mean that while many do apply the entry requirements mean only 1 or 2 in every 200 or so applicants make it through all the tests and interviews.

It is also baffling that the Government say there are 40 applicants for each job (wrong again as I have explained) yet at the same time say not enough people apply from across the population.

We work hard as a union and Service to get people from all walks of life and all sections of the community to apply but for the government to say too many apply and not enough apply in the same breath is bewildering to say the least.

Isn’t there some truth in the Government statements that the Fire Service is militant?

There has been a structured Fire Service in the UK since Roman times. In around 2000 years there have been two national strikes. We have now also had 4 periods of strike suspension to allow talks to take place. Since 1977 we have had, in the last two weeks, 240 hours of strike action. That’s out of a total of 219,000 hours worked. Hardly the record of ‘militants’ or evidence of plotters bent on overthrowing governments!

Is it true the Army are coping with all the work?

In fact the Army are not doing the job of the Fire Service. They are simply doing very basic firefighting duties and doing their best with life rescues which have been done in the main by firefighters leaving the picket lines to save life.

We have nothing but respect for the military trying to cope the best they can. In fact we are amazed their leave has been cancelled when it is well known we had no plans to strike over the Christmas and New Year period as we had already given the legal notice required of us. We don’t understand why they have been treated so badly by their senior officers and the Government.

Firefighters fully understand the frustration soldiers, sailors, marines, and RAF crews feel. After all, many Firefighters served in the same forces.

The Military are in place to give basic protection. It is unreasonable to expect any more of them.

Why do Firefighters say their pay is bad when others earn less according to the Government?

Of course people earn differing amounts. All we have said is that we want a fair comparison made with our pay. We work a 42 hour week and like the police have 11% of our pay put into a pension scheme. We also have our pay set at the same amount regardless of how long we serve up to 15 years. From our 16th year until our 30th+ years we do not get any more pay other than the 27p an hour after 15 years completed service, unlike many other workers.

We also receive NO shift allowance, NO weekend premium, NO night work allowances, NO bonuses, NO share scheme, NO staff discounts, and NO private medical scheme or assistance. We can also be reduced to half pay after 6 months even if we are injured. After a year our pay can be completely stopped as has happened to Firefighters injured on duty!

When we are compared to other workers some ‘newspapers’ take the lowest rate of pay for one worker yet the highest rate for a Firefighter. This we believe is not only unfair but is done to deliberately mislead people.

So what makes Firefighters think they deserve more than other workers?

We don’t think that at all. We simply believe that we, like all workers, should be paid fairly for our job and our skills. For example I have been to the Fire Service College to study and learn even more skills. I have taken courses with my own Fire and Rescue Service and studied in my own time. I, like every other Firefighter, do not receive a penny more for those skills or indeed any we acquire in a career of 30+ years. Despite having 22 Fire Service qualifications and having attended countless courses these skills are not paid for at all. We believe that the skills each and every Firefighter has to learn should be fairly recognised not in the issuing of certificates but by paying them a fair wage.

Isn’t the 4% you have been offered fair?

We have simply asked for a professional pay rate for doing a professional job. The 4% ‘offer’ amounts to 24p an hour for a Firefighter who has trained for 4 years and served for up to 15 years. For our Part Time Firefighters it amounts to an increase of just 0.6p an hour in their retaining fee. We do not believe this is either fair nor does it reflect the changes to our jobs and our skills in the last 25 years.

Some Newspapers have said that Firefighting is not a dangerous job. Is that true?

Well I have been in hospital more than once but obviously we have to look at the whole picture. We have in place practices and procedures to limit the risk our crews face and the number of deaths suffered in the Fire Service. Sadly Firefighters still get killed serving the public as we saw in the last few weeks.

It is our skills as firefighters which ensure injury is limited as far as possible. (Skills incidentally we are not paid for) We are not about to undo all our safety procedures and practices simply to show that we are at risk each and every day we are at work. Our safety record is the envy not only of other industries in this country but of other fire services around the world. We have no plans to undo this simply so that a ‘newspaper’ can show a new table in 3 years time showing firefighters at the top of the death and injury league.

How will this dispute be resolved?

By a negotiated settlement between firefighters and their employers. We had an agreement already BEFORE the last strike action took place. We were to be offered a pay adjustment in the summer. Both times this government intervened. Had they not then we would not have been forced in a strike. We have been discussing pay SINCE 1996 and this Government knows that. Indeed some have attended our Annual Conferences where pay has been discussed. It is completely disingenuous for them to say its has come as a surprise in any way.

We do not want to be on strike but if the Government continue to try and mislead the public with spin and lies and they continue to say one thing in private and another in public then of course this dispute will continue.

We want a settlement reached without the interference of this Government and without lies and disinformation being put out by them.

What would give the public a better service for the Future?

The Fire Cover Review must be implemented and this Government must also make time for a fire safety bill to be put to Parliament so we can have a new Fire Safety Act. The Government say they want the public better protected but they refuse to do anything which will ensure that. All they seem to push for is cuts rather than the provision of a better service.

We want to see the public protected 24 hours a day not for part of the day. Why should there be fewer firefighters available to cut someone free from a car crash at 11 in the evening than at 11 in the morning?

Why should your family be at greater risk from fire at 1am than they are at 1pm?

We want to see Firefighters fairly paid for their skills and not moving on or moving out. We can’t sustain the skills fade we are seeing in the Fire Service at present.

We have seen ‘modernisation’ in the Health Service, in Education, on the Railways, with Air Traffic Control, and with the schools examination system. We believe that ‘modernisation’ really leads to further cuts and a worse service for the vast majority of the public with benefits only had for a selected few who make money from ‘modernisation’ by acting as consultants or using their own companies to provide a profitable replacement service at a higher overall cost.

What many people are surprised at is that the Government can expound the virtues of ‘modernisation’ when the only ‘modernisation’ in we have seen in the House of Commons in the last 600 years is the many fold increase in MP’s pay and condition.

We want the public served and protected by a professional Fire Service receiving professional pay rates and in place 24 hours a day. We don’t think that is being unreasonable. That is our vision of a modernised Fire Service complete with the funding to achieve it.

If you have any questions regarding the Firefighters dispute please contact your local Fire Station. No Spin, No Gloss. Just the Truth on how ‘modernisation’ will affect you.

Dean Mills
Regional Secretary

Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you have any queries or want any more information please contact me on:

Mob: 07956 502585

Regional Office: 01494 513034

email:deanmills@hotmail.com