IN THE midst of ongoing strike action by the retained fire service, SIPTU have said that fire service management are to blame for the “chaotic scenes” throughout fire stations nationwide.
Strike action commenced last week by members of the retainer fire service, which has seen picket lines drawn across the country. Despite the ongoing protests, members of the retained service have still been responding to life-threatening emergency calls.
SIPTU, the main firefighters union in Ireland, have led the strike action over payment conditions which they claim are untenable for members of the part-time retained service.
Members of the retained service work on a retainer fee, which sees them as on-call and only paid when answering actual emergency call-outs.
According to SIPTU, the conditions are putting undue stress on retained firefighters, who often have to base their other paying work close to their associated fire stations in order to be able to answer emergency calls at a moment’s notice.
Amid the ongoing strike action, SIPTU have put the ball firmly in the fire service management’s court, declaring a “general strategy of non-cooperation” from the opposing side.
“Phone calls are not being answered when firefighters call the station from the scenes of incidents, and management is not deploying the required number of appliances to incidents. This is unacceptable,” said Karan O’Loughlin, SIPTU Public Administration and Community Divisional Organiser.
“SIPTU retained fire fighters are on strike and have been engaged in hours of talks with management locally to ensure there is a reliable system of emergency cover, but they just can’t get cooperation from the management side. This is putting lives at risk.”
“Our members are coming off picket lines to manage life-threatening incidents and being pressurised to take responsibilities above and beyond the call of duty because management refuses to take responsibility. “
Commenting on the ongoing strike action, Limerick Sinn Féin senator Paul Gavan hit out at the Government as being “asleep at the wheel” with regard to the ongoing dispute. Senator Gavan was speaking after a visit to the picket line in Rathkeale Fire Station earlier this week.
“Retained firefighters throughout the state are set to complete their first week of renewed strike action following their rejection of inadequate Labour Court proposals, yet there has been no new initiative from Government to resolve these matters.
“Government ministers have headed off on their holidays leaving an essential service in crisis and 2,000 striking workers to twist in the wind.”
The Labour Court has previously recommended that the retainer paid to the part-time workers be increased by between 24 and 32.7 per cent. Under the proposals, a firefighter on an annual retainer of €8,870 would see it rise to €11,769.
“As Karan O’Loughlin of SIPTU has said, the very future of the service is in doubt if the current crisis in recruitment and retention of firefighters is not resolved. The lack of attention being paid to this dispute by Government ministers makes a mockery of all previous talk about how much ‘respect’ they have for the workers involved,” Senator Gavan said.
“There is also an embarrassing silence from Government TD’s here in Limerick who know their government has the means to solve this dispute.”
The Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage has previously said it is “disappointed” to see strike action resume and described the retainer increase proposed by the Labour Court as “generous”.
“A consistent and acceptable level of service must be maintained,” a spokesperson for the Department said.
“We don’t need to be in this position. A resolution is attainable through acceptance of the current Labour Court offer and engagement with the forthcoming national pay talks.”
