Felix.

Oh. it may have been settled, but the fire brigade in our neck of the woods still moan a lot.

Some say they should be on more than 30k........WTF......... they're asleep for most of the time.

I just want to know how they can justify asking for it

OllyK

I appreciate that the fire brigade do more than just throw a bucket of water over the odd fire these days, however, they are bargaining from a position of power, i.e. if we strike, are the green godesses really going to cope? It's blackmail and leaves a rather nasty taste I'm afraid.

The problem is if the other public sector workers then feel they ought to be due similar pay increases. We are then looking at a significant hike in the amount of cash the government needs to find for wages. If they do pay out, tax goes up to compensate and quite possibly inflation etc essentially negating the increase. If they can't pay we start to see more strikes and another winter of discontent.

PG

because it is your right to. Simple as that. Lets face it the police get a hard time as it is. A tea break aint going to make much odds
If you continue to do it you will continue to get fcuked over time and time again.
As much as I know little about your working day you know little about mine.
Everyone enjoys thinking that their job is harder / they are less appreciated than everyone else but tbh the whole "hard done by" thing does very little for me. There is a whole lot more to the job than just the emergency response.
Emergency response is now a very close second in our role with prevention taking presendece (sp) much to the dismay of the troops as we are seeing (as was mentioned earlier re NHS, police, ect..) fire cover is being cut and numbers on inital turnout will be down creating a much more dangerous working envioroment
I have benefited from the new deal as I am going to be a retained firefighter too on my rota days. Providing better fire cover for my local area (was retained prior to going full time anyway) and also boosting my pay slightly too.

SPEN555

TJ Hooker used to do okay. Always managed to get the burgers in as well the fat ba$tid lol!

PG

The Gov was approached re the pay rise. They told the Union to go away and come back with what they wanted so the union got an outside agency in to assess the job and come out with a pay scale. This was the same agency that did the MPs pay rise so as not to have any conflict. They got their raise in the bat of an eyelid and we....well you know the rest

DJFish

This really annoys me.
There are some people in every industry that give it a bad name.
My pal's a FF, an comes from a FF family. He's just started at a station having worked his **** off to get accepted as it's what he's always wanted to do.

He's on crap money at the moment and doesn't get to go on full pay until he's done a couple of years and doesn't get any choice over where he's based and as a result has a long commute each day which isn't subsidised like some emrgency services' (Met Pol) travel is.

He works a very busy station and even when not on a shout has a number of gear checks/routine jobs to keep him from his bed, which he only gets to use for 3-4 hours on a non-shout night anyway.
Now they are thinking of ditching the beds altogether due to public opinion.
He hasn't appeared in a calender (yet) but does enjoy call-outs to night clubs.

Who gives a toss whether they get a few hours shut eye? I know I do when I'm on nights and its quiet, I also know that I'd rather have a fit, alert and motivated bloke dragging me out of my car/house in the middle of the night than someone who's shagged out and suffering from sleep depravation.

Pay them a decent wage for constantly risking their life and they won't need to take on second jobs.

Firefighters are like lifeboats, air ambulances and the ICU down your local hospital. The cost a lot of money, you hope you'll never need them and 99% of the population never will, but when you do you're bloody glad that they're there and manned by people who are willing to RISK THEIR LIVES to save yours.
Firefighters should be paid for what they might have to do, not how many bloody cats they rescued out of trees in the financial year 2004/5.
If you still think they're a bunch of lazy, workshy trade unionists, put your own house out next time it's on fire.

Best wishes
Dave

OllyK

Does that apply to soldiers?
So if fire fighters deserve £30K, a soldier should get what? £50K?

DJFish

Why not? might make politicians think twice about sending people off to war.

OllyK

...and doctors, nurses, teachers, civil servants, bin men etc etc.

I'm not saying they are not deserving, the issue is, they are paid for from the public coffers. Not sure what the public sector wage bill must be, but it looks like the pension bill alone is already set to hit £700 million in a few years which is double the current national debt. The cost would be huge, so how is it going to be paid for?

I did have a long rant here, but just go and have a read up about the Labour government in the 1970's, the winter of dis-content and the IMF loans and you'll get the picture.

OllyK

I doubt it. Not while we are playing puppet to Bush at least.

Felix.

How often do they risk their lives...???

Now compare that to the average police officer - who doesn't get to sleep on a night and usually carries a boat load of ongoing enquiries as well as keeping the job que down.

pslewis

The Green Goddesses and 16 year old squaddies show how tough a FF job is!!

I remember a 16 year old saying, "Piece of **** this, wish I could have such a cushion of a job on £30k!"

The Firefighters lost all public support during the last stike when the public found out what they DON'T do!!

Stood around a fire with stupid flame baseball caps on!

Pete

Daz34

You are missing the point! You check the building when it is occupied to ensure that the people who work or visit it are in a safe enviroment at that time.
You only have to visit one factory where the fire exits are padlocked whilst the employees are working to understand why.

Daz34

They didn't do anything remotely like a firefighter's actual job.

Felix.

Eh..???

Simple. They should never be padlocked. It should be safe at any time of the day or night - wether there is staff there or not.

Felix.

So what was the difference then..??

pslewis

Quite Correct!!

They only did the DANGEROUS and TOUGH part .... they pissed it!!

They didn't do the other little jobs like fitting grannies smoke alarm or acting like pratts at school Fetes!!

Firefighters got shown up well and truly in the strike!!

Pete

Jap2Scrap

lol

That they did pete...

Can you start posting contrite drivel again please though cos this is the second time in 2 days I've at least superficially agreed with you.

Thanks In Advance.