With these fire fighters on strike over new hours — saw it on the news tonight them saying they were on strike and not doing any work which is fair enough I guess if they got a dispute I’m not criticising that. While watching the news report a hypothetical question/scenario popped into my head…
If there was say god forbid a major RTA on the motorway would the fire fighters on strike down the banners etc or would they stick to their guns and the “management” brigades would be sent out to use the jaws of life/air bags etc etc
the military always cover when the firefighters go on strike. then again i dont know what engines they have got if they have pensioned off the old green goddesses.
rumour has it that the soldiers are going on strike and the fire service are going to cover for them in afghanistan. thats provided they can still do there 4 on 4 off sleeping duty shifts and go home every 4 off so they can do there second job. just a rumour though.
if they do go on strike properly like they did a few years back it will be down to the already overstretched forces to cover it all on operation fiasco, sorry operation fresco!
they all get trained up to FF standard and cover them using old appliances (green goddesses but not green godesses anymore, if you know what i mean?)
seen a job advertised a few times looking for class two drivers to drive fire engines on call outs with fire fighters before now. there was an article on london tonight a while back that was about private fire fighting firms specifically for strike cover being called in. in the event of a strike
At the last round of fire strikes, didn’t the government introduce emergency powers for the army to drive regular fire engines, now there are no green godesses?
I have always thought this but maybe i am wrong . As tax payers we own the fire engines do we not ? so they are the goverments property not the fire brigades . so anyone with a class 2 can drive them on the road ?
yes the Green Godess’s are sold (mostly) and in Op Freso occurs again it will be in localy maintained Fire appliances
Fire fighters even when on strike have alawys offered manangement they will turn out for a person(s) reported incident, I do believe the fire fighters union even have it written into their constitution that a person reported incident is not considered strike breaking, HOWEVER the fire brigade management once a strike is called will deny access to applainces and equipment…
We have some ex fire service guiys here I am sure they will confirm this or tell me I am totally wrong
I remember from the firemens strike in the late 70’s, (I was at school and My mate’s father was a firemen) they would leave the picket line to attnd major emergencies. Of course this fact annoys the management because the firemen get good publicity when they show they care more for others lives than their picket line.
but how can they stop the goverment from using the equipment or the appliances . the fire brigade dont own them . i hate ppl with too much power . just like the postmen etc . imagine we went on strike we would all just get the sack simple .
s2rich:
but how can they stop the goverment from using the equipment or the appliances …
The bottom line is that they cant and wouldnt, but then again who are they going to stop and how■■?
Also, the kit carried on the pumps and RT`s takes some handling and specialist knowledge of how to use it. Whether its cutting gear, air bags or forcing mats or just running out hose and getting to work, it may look easy and straight forward but there is a skill to using it properly. Then of course there is Breathing Apparatus (BA), a whole law unto itself, get that wrong and someone could be in a whole world of pain!!
s2rich:
. imagine we went on strike we would all just get the sack simple .
We’d get the sack because we wouldn’t stand together. However there is a fine line between the workforce having to much power and workers getting exploited by management.
How amazing would it be if your usual agency called and instead of offering you the usual 40 drops in an artic around central london and said “you wan’t to do a day for the Fire Brigade? Driving only”
Heh now that would be awesome… Blues and Twos all the way
bullitt:
Strikes or no strikes,Firefighters will always go to a “persons reported” incident, whether its a house fire, RTC, train crash, major incident etc.
The argument is with the managers and new policies not the public.
Yep, we have and will!
muckles:
I remember from the firemens strike in the late 70’s, (I was at school and My mate’s father was a firemen) they would leave the picket line to attnd major emergencies. Of course this fact annoys the management because the firemen get good publicity when they show they care more for others lives than their picket line.
Happened more than once
Steve-o:
How amazing would it be if your usual agency called and instead of offering you the usual 40 drops in an artic around central london and said “you wan’t to do a day for the Fire Brigade? Driving only”
Heh now that would be awesome… Blues and Twos all the way
Never gonna happen but it’s nice to dream lol
Ya right, Fire Applinces and emergency vehicles of all kinds need specialist driver training to be driven in an emergency (blues & Twos) situation! (and I am still qualified )
Steve-o:
How amazing would it be if your usual agency called and instead of offering you the usual 40 drops in an artic around central london and said “you wan’t to do a day for the Fire Brigade? Driving only”
Heh now that would be awesome… Blues and Twos all the way
The Firemen have ALWAYS put life before a strike, and as it has already been pointed out, the management deny them access to the equipment if they are in dispute.
It makes no difference who owns the equipment, in the same sense our taxes pay for PC’s for the various government departments, it doesn’t mean you can walk into one of their offices to use them to connect to the internet etc.
As for the Postmen?
They aint had a wage rise for 2 years, yet the CEO can get a wage of over £1 million + bonuses etc, when I did driving for Silent Night in Sunderland they used the Paragon system that Royal Mail want to introduce, it’s grossly inefficient as it states you can drive from A to B in X amount of time and make a delivery in X amount of time.
Posties cannot be expected to run around their routes just to catch up on the time that the Paragon says they will be there.
If anything, we should be supporting the posties, or are we to just accept that posties are no longer to be gaurdians of the community stopping to check the old folk are okay if they have’nt been seen for a few days?
Our postie always makes a point of checking on the old folk, and if he aint seen one of them for a couple of days he asks a neighbour to check they are ok, yep it doesn’t take long but not everyone walks at the same speed and some drives are longer than others etc etc etc.
just a rumour though.
