News from Trumpton
Red On, Green On
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Between the woods and the water
Age: 24
Posts: 6,487
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
News from Trumpton
From BBCi today:
The Fire Brigades Union said it will ballot for strike action after talks to end a long-running pay dispute broke down without agreement on Monday.
Union leaders had met local authority employers to try to break the deadlock.
But they failed to reach a deal to settle what they say is a 3.5% rise outstanding since November, and a further 4.2% owed since 1 July.
The dispute flared up following a hitch to the agreement that ended a series of strikes in 2002 and 2003.
A deadlock over "stand-down time" during night shifts was broken during negotiations on Thursday.
That related to whether firefighters should have to undertake training or other duties while waiting for a call out.
There was some confusion surrounding the end of talks in central London.
The employers said they ended with the FBU rejecting an offer but the union said its members were still waiting to reconvene and discuss the issue.
Firefighters are taking action because they say that the pay agreement reached after last year's national strike has not been implemented.
-------------
Polish those Green Goddesses!
The Fire Brigades Union said it will ballot for strike action after talks to end a long-running pay dispute broke down without agreement on Monday.
Union leaders had met local authority employers to try to break the deadlock.
But they failed to reach a deal to settle what they say is a 3.5% rise outstanding since November, and a further 4.2% owed since 1 July.
The dispute flared up following a hitch to the agreement that ended a series of strikes in 2002 and 2003.
A deadlock over "stand-down time" during night shifts was broken during negotiations on Thursday.
That related to whether firefighters should have to undertake training or other duties while waiting for a call out.
There was some confusion surrounding the end of talks in central London.
The employers said they ended with the FBU rejecting an offer but the union said its members were still waiting to reconvene and discuss the issue.
Firefighters are taking action because they say that the pay agreement reached after last year's national strike has not been implemented.
-------------
Polish those Green Goddesses!
How they have the front to even moan is beyond me. They are all behaving like hard done by school kids. There are 40 people waiting to fill each vacancy so I am told so sack the lot of them and give the job to someone who will relish it!!
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Up North
Posts: 801
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I think this has been largely engineered by Blairites who want a good public sector union scrap before an election and who are peeved at the FBU disaffiliation from Labour.
So, if called upon, we will be political pawns and once more, leave and training will suffer. Only question is, will there be another war at the end of it?
So, if called upon, we will be political pawns and once more, leave and training will suffer. Only question is, will there be another war at the end of it?
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Muscat, Oman
Posts: 604
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
We will have no say in the matter, we'll be manning the pumps. Why don't they do what the Yanks did with the "invincible" civil ATC and sack all those who go on strike. They can train some new people while the green Goddesses are out again. Also give our SACs fireman's pay while they're on call!
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Bedfordshire
Posts: 123
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Had our Families Day here at sunny RAF $%^&*£$ last week, was really nice to see a Fire Tender and Crew turn up to support our event...... NOT! The cheek of it! Of course not many people were making comments under their breaths as they walked past!
Maybe we should take a Green Goddess round to the station on their Families Day?!?
TheBeeKeeper
(DH82b)
Maybe we should take a Green Goddess round to the station on their Families Day?!?
TheBeeKeeper
(DH82b)
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: UK
Posts: 591
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I think the fireshirkers had it coming. They thought they could hold the Country to ransom and walk away with a nice pay deal, in exchange for a few concessions regarding working practices, which they should have made years ago.
Tough titty. The public now see them as a waste of space and won't support another round of strikes. The Labour Party are hardly going to rally round, since the FBU pulled their £50k pa and the armed forces will get by, like we did last time. I agree: sack 'em and offer a new (strike-free) contract to those who wish to rejoin.
Tough titty. The public now see them as a waste of space and won't support another round of strikes. The Labour Party are hardly going to rally round, since the FBU pulled their £50k pa and the armed forces will get by, like we did last time. I agree: sack 'em and offer a new (strike-free) contract to those who wish to rejoin.
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 545
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
...the other side of the coin...
Hold on a mo guys! Consider the other side too! My close friend is a fire-fighter with the local service (Gloucs) and he takes home each month the princely sum of £1210. His sister is a check-out girl at the local Aldi store and picks up just £22 less.
I am not a fire-fighter (actually I'm not anything any more...) but I know I couldn't cope with some of the incidents they deal with.
Ta bm
I am not a fire-fighter (actually I'm not anything any more...) but I know I couldn't cope with some of the incidents they deal with.
Ta bm
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: An airfield cunningly close the Thames
Age: 46
Posts: 256
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just a thought, having a member of the fire brigade in the family.
If they do walk out again, don't honk as you drive past, it only encourages them.
And they're not drinking tea in those mugs.....
If they do walk out again, don't honk as you drive past, it only encourages them.
And they're not drinking tea in those mugs.....
Free Man, Not a Number
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Well here of course.
Age: 58
Posts: 307
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
But BoeingMel he choose to be a firefighter, no one forced him into doing it, he has the option to leave at any time. Voting with your feet has always been an option in any role.
I'm not saying they are not worth it, or the role does not deserve additional money but surely no one was lied to at the interview stage about pay and conditions? The rank and file would do better to sack their pathetic union leaders who let them get into this mess.
I'm not saying they are not worth it, or the role does not deserve additional money but surely no one was lied to at the interview stage about pay and conditions? The rank and file would do better to sack their pathetic union leaders who let them get into this mess.
Red On, Green On
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Between the woods and the water
Age: 24
Posts: 6,487
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
I was very mildly sympathetic towards them til they started insisting on being able to sleep when in station overnight. Everyone else on nights works their session, but not FBU members it seems. They won't do training, and they won't do maintenance.
Of course, the cynical would say that they need their sleep then so they can do their window cleaning, taxi-driving etc in the day-time....
Of course, the cynical would say that they need their sleep then so they can do their window cleaning, taxi-driving etc in the day-time....
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: UK
Posts: 1,089
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
BoeingMel says
"he takes home each month the princely sum of £1210. His sister is a check-out girl at the local Aldi store and picks up just £22 less."
That may well be true BM but please tell us all what his gross NIable pay is and what tax free benefits are received in addition. Perhaps he could also tell us what are the TOTAL contributions to his pension and what is his share of those contributions. What other perks and subsidies does he receive courtesy of the hard-pressed ratepayers?
Such figures as net pay may be very misleading indeed. For example for all we know he may have an Attachment of Earnings Order against him for £5000 per month. That would severely deplete his net pay!
The point I am making is that such figures are clearly designed to mislead to gain perhaps unwarranted sympathy.
"he takes home each month the princely sum of £1210. His sister is a check-out girl at the local Aldi store and picks up just £22 less."
That may well be true BM but please tell us all what his gross NIable pay is and what tax free benefits are received in addition. Perhaps he could also tell us what are the TOTAL contributions to his pension and what is his share of those contributions. What other perks and subsidies does he receive courtesy of the hard-pressed ratepayers?
Such figures as net pay may be very misleading indeed. For example for all we know he may have an Attachment of Earnings Order against him for £5000 per month. That would severely deplete his net pay!
The point I am making is that such figures are clearly designed to mislead to gain perhaps unwarranted sympathy.
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Guess
Posts: 112
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
BoeingMEL.
The sum of £1210 is still around £210 more than the average SAC that has just come back from four months in Basrah will get for doing HIS duty !!
In fact lads n' lasses dont bother unpacking your kit or seeing the wife and kids, just report to your nearest station..
In my eyes they are all a bunch of t@@sers if they pull another strike after what they did to us just before OP Telic.
The sum of £1210 is still around £210 more than the average SAC that has just come back from four months in Basrah will get for doing HIS duty !!
In fact lads n' lasses dont bother unpacking your kit or seeing the wife and kids, just report to your nearest station..
In my eyes they are all a bunch of t@@sers if they pull another strike after what they did to us just before OP Telic.
Nice
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: All Over
Posts: 322
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I am not a fire-fighter (actually I'm not anything any more...) but I know I couldn't cope with some of the incidents they deal with.
And they're not drinking tea in those mugs.....
It was because the night shift were in the pub up the road and the day shift had stayed on to maintain a presence.
During the last strike I was called to an RTA that the green goddesses had also been called to, although (thankfully) it turned out they weren't required, and nor were we.
We returned to station and witnessed the green goddess going past the fire station on its way back to wherever it was based, but not without stopping to deliver a whole load of abuse to the firefighters.
The didn't utter a single word in reply.
I find the strikes disgusting because of the knock on effect they have, and how so many people are stitched up, obviously mainly the army and RAF crews that have to stand in, but also the other emergency services who could be, and occasionally are put in very difficult situations by the strikes.
Overstretch obviously doesn't exist in the simple mind of fools like BuffHoon:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3533742.stm
Good luck to anyone covering for these miserable shirkers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3533742.stm
Good luck to anyone covering for these miserable shirkers.
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Longton, Lancs, UK
Age: 80
Posts: 1,527
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
My window cleaner is a fireman who has a nice 3-year old BMW, upon which he carries his ladders. If a strike happens, he will be told that his services are permanently binned - my neighbours will do likewise. Maybe a Nationwide campaign would have some effect? No day job - none of that nice extra dosh (wonder if they declare those activities to Mr Brown), and no need to sleep on the night shift.
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Preston
Posts: 22
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
What a lot of spleen is being vented here!
FACT: An agreement was made to settle the last dispute. The employers, no doubt with the connivance of B.Liar have reneged on the deal. It’s not the fault of the firemen that the government is using the forces as a tool to drum up support for a battle. Let’s face it Bliar has had his war, a la Maggie and Falklands, and now he wants a good old fashioned confrontation with a wicked lefty nasty trade union, again a la Maggie and miners, to show what a strong leader he is in the lead up to next year’s elections. As to the idea that the firemen knew the wages/conditions when they signed up and why don’t they leave - well one could say the same for the people whining on these forum. I decided after 30 years of service life that I had had enough, was leaving and so braved the cold commercial world. Of course this comes with having to actually pay into my pension plan, payments which by the way have just doubled, only 4 weeks leave per year, no chance of NHS dentist so paying an arm and a leg for that, working for a firm that could go bust or lose important contracts and leave me without a job, etc. If you lot can’t recognise this confrontation as a device to have a big bad figure to paint Bliar in a good light then you are living in a dream world. If the job of a fireman is so good that they can sleep when on call over a night shift (as I recall many staff doing at Army/RAF bases for example in Ops) and drive a 3 yr old BMW on a window cleaning round then why not join them? By the way, to Jindabyne, why wait until the fireman/window cleaner goes on strike to dispense with his services. The man is obviously a bounder so shop him to DHSS, or would that mean you had to pay the full price to a genuine window cleaning firm?
FACT: An agreement was made to settle the last dispute. The employers, no doubt with the connivance of B.Liar have reneged on the deal. It’s not the fault of the firemen that the government is using the forces as a tool to drum up support for a battle. Let’s face it Bliar has had his war, a la Maggie and Falklands, and now he wants a good old fashioned confrontation with a wicked lefty nasty trade union, again a la Maggie and miners, to show what a strong leader he is in the lead up to next year’s elections. As to the idea that the firemen knew the wages/conditions when they signed up and why don’t they leave - well one could say the same for the people whining on these forum. I decided after 30 years of service life that I had had enough, was leaving and so braved the cold commercial world. Of course this comes with having to actually pay into my pension plan, payments which by the way have just doubled, only 4 weeks leave per year, no chance of NHS dentist so paying an arm and a leg for that, working for a firm that could go bust or lose important contracts and leave me without a job, etc. If you lot can’t recognise this confrontation as a device to have a big bad figure to paint Bliar in a good light then you are living in a dream world. If the job of a fireman is so good that they can sleep when on call over a night shift (as I recall many staff doing at Army/RAF bases for example in Ops) and drive a 3 yr old BMW on a window cleaning round then why not join them? By the way, to Jindabyne, why wait until the fireman/window cleaner goes on strike to dispense with his services. The man is obviously a bounder so shop him to DHSS, or would that mean you had to pay the full price to a genuine window cleaning firm?
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: UK
Posts: 42
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Errrrr.... I may have missed the point here, stuk, but if he's a working freman and moonlighting as a window cleaner then surely there would be no cause to shop him to the DSS. Unless of course he has two jobs and is claiming as well!!
I did the first fremans strike back in 76 or 77 (memory fades a bit) and remember feeling very bitter at doing a firemans job for considerably less pay than they were already getting. I also well remember the strong arm tactics they employed to try and stop local firms, who had some sort of fire cover of their own, helping us. They threatened to black them after the strike. To cap it all, when the strike was over, they even suggested that we have a joint party to show there were no hard feelings!!!!! I fear they would have "felt" hard pickaxe handles.
I missed my baby son's first steps, first Christmas and New Year with my wife and young family because, as now, the greedy fireman wanted more money for less work and more perks.
Nothing has changed, sack the lot of them, and get some of the people into the job who would welcome the work for the pay offered.
If this seems less than sympathetic, well perhaps my nom de plume will give a clue to that because in another move in the political chess game I may well be out of a job very soon in B.Liars continuing battle to out Tory the Tories.
I did the first fremans strike back in 76 or 77 (memory fades a bit) and remember feeling very bitter at doing a firemans job for considerably less pay than they were already getting. I also well remember the strong arm tactics they employed to try and stop local firms, who had some sort of fire cover of their own, helping us. They threatened to black them after the strike. To cap it all, when the strike was over, they even suggested that we have a joint party to show there were no hard feelings!!!!! I fear they would have "felt" hard pickaxe handles.
I missed my baby son's first steps, first Christmas and New Year with my wife and young family because, as now, the greedy fireman wanted more money for less work and more perks.
Nothing has changed, sack the lot of them, and get some of the people into the job who would welcome the work for the pay offered.
If this seems less than sympathetic, well perhaps my nom de plume will give a clue to that because in another move in the political chess game I may well be out of a job very soon in B.Liars continuing battle to out Tory the Tories.
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Preston
Posts: 22
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Civil Serant.
Jindabyne was wondering if the fireman declared the money gained from window cleaning to nice Mr. Brown. He should of course be paying tax on it. Don't want to go off of thread too much but if you buy something "cheapo and under the counter" then you can't complain about the person doing it as you are the cause of it.
Jindabyne was wondering if the fireman declared the money gained from window cleaning to nice Mr. Brown. He should of course be paying tax on it. Don't want to go off of thread too much but if you buy something "cheapo and under the counter" then you can't complain about the person doing it as you are the cause of it.
Red On, Green On
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Between the woods and the water
Age: 24
Posts: 6,487
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
From today's Telegraph:
"It is understood that both sides had reached an agreement on the outstanding issues. But sources on the employers' side said last night the deal was scuppered by the FBU's refusal to sign up to a clause that would require firemen working on bank holidays to do more than just answer emergency calls.
Firemen receive double pay and a day off for working a bank holiday. Employers said that the union's stance was the equivalent of nurses refusing to treat anything other than emergencies."
Sheer greed or what?
"It is understood that both sides had reached an agreement on the outstanding issues. But sources on the employers' side said last night the deal was scuppered by the FBU's refusal to sign up to a clause that would require firemen working on bank holidays to do more than just answer emergency calls.
Firemen receive double pay and a day off for working a bank holiday. Employers said that the union's stance was the equivalent of nurses refusing to treat anything other than emergencies."
Sheer greed or what?