Union tells firefighters to call off industrial action
Monday 22nd March 2010, 2:58PM GMT.
Association president Craig Channing
FIREFIGHTERS may call off their planned industrial action and accept a two-year pay deal, the Fire and Rescue Service Association has announced.
The association had warned that indefinite action would start this Wednesday after talks over terms and conditions and last year’s public sector pay freeze reached deadlock.
Following a meeting on Friday, the States Employment Board has offered to discuss working conditions – but refused to back down over the pay freeze.
Craig Channing, president of the association, said that members would now be advised to accept a rise of two per cent this year and two per cent in 2011.
But he added that it would only be accepted as long as the States agreed to discuss ongoing budget, training and manpower issues and not to launch a wholesale review of firefighters’ terms and conditions.
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Phew that was close, I thought I was going to have to cancel my Friday night get leathered and cook chips when I get back supper.
So terms and conditions are now to be discussed but in fairness they have agreed to accept an above inflation pay rise this year and a guaranteed 2% for next year – good on em.
My employer is not prepared to discuss if I’ll have a job this time next week but that serves me right for working in the private sector.
Just looked up pay rise on Wikipedia, so that’s what one is.
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Life is hard in the private sector. I only got a 2% pay rise and a 9% bonus.
I think I will go for a pub lunch tomorrow and commiserate with my colleagues over a pint.
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Firefighters weren’t particularly after “yet more money” as some of you seem to believe. Did you know that firefighters actually only start on £26k per year? That pay scale has been in place for about 5 years and even then was considered low. Did you know they work 42 hour weeks? Did you know that every week at least one of them will see a sight which cause most of the population to break down? Its not just fires these guys attend; its suicides; its floods; its missing persons; its car accidents etc.
Did you also know most of them work part time on top to be able to sustain their families?
The one sentence I shall remember from this years’ JEP comments was Terry le Sueur saying “how disappointed he was”. Thats a states member who gave himself a pay increase last year and all his other cronies? When was the last time any of them faced hardship or danger?
Support our firefighters – they will support you 100% if you ever need them thats for sure and they won’t ask first for your vote.
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Its good to see that the CoM have finally seen sense, which I knew they would when push came to shove.
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Greedy, greedy, greedy.
How many firefighters have resigned in the last 30 years?
How many applications to become a full-time States Of Jersey firefighter are received at enrolment time?
ENOUGH SAID!
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ref 5.
greedy greedy greedy…. did you even bother to read the article? did you even bother to listen to what anyone has said, or are you too stupid that you can’t read, or just are too stupid to understand what they are fighting for????
so the firefighters weren’t after the money, it was terms and conditions, well how were the public supposed to know that!?!?!? i mean, it was only in the paper, and on 2 news channels, but still, oh yeah, and on this website, but how were we supposed to realise that!
i think i might have a look at the latest headline and pass comment on something i have no idea about….
seriously, are you that ignorant… or are you terry le sueur in disguise… if so are you gonna hand your £1000 bonus back?
re read the last paragraph….. its budget, training and manpower, all things that to me seem fairly essential for a service that multi-tasks on everything from animal rescues to sea rescues,
failing that, we could always out-source it to uk contractors, that seems to be the trend over here
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Hey UNITE are you listening?
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myview, more than you think.i don’t think i can be bothered to follow this subject anymore, too many can’t see the real reason, and it ISN’T PAY!!!!
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If it isn’t pay then why does spam bleat on about the measley sum of a starting salary of 26K! When did that sum of money become lowly paid??? Go around the building sites and tell them that nearly £600 quid a week is poorly paid! Given that it is starting salary, I’m sure that the full picture would reveal that the greater part of the fireservice would be on more money anyway – Yes you do a good job – we know you don’t just put out fires, but get some perspective. We are in a global downturn and the public have little sympathy for public sector workers who have, what is, in real terms a good deal!
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Spam – 26k a year is a LOT more than most people get as a starting wage- even those graduates who work in the finance industry can only expect that sum after 5 years in the industry! Risking their lives is their choice of occupation but don’t come crying to us because they have no pay rise – My partner works 8am – 7pm Mon – Fri and he’s on almost 10k less than that.. and guess what – we didn’t have a pay rise either
I’m sick of people thinking finance workers earn a load and we get big bonus’s as its simply not true – and now our firefighters are throwing their toys out of the pram because they want a bigger pay rise… sickening… holding the island to ransom for your own greed
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6 – Since when has the word ‘greed’ equated only with money?
Please try to understand English & read comments before replying with emotional diatribe.
8 – I dont think so & who’s mentioning pay?
This pay thing seems to be a common reaction – why?
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Don’t be fooled.It’s all about pensions. Expect a big shock when the next audit of the States pension fund is carried out. Uniformed officers’ pensions have not been realistically funded by a long way. They come from the same fund as the much more modest civil servants and health care workers pensions which can no longer prop it up. Something has to give. The UK sorted out their police and firefighter pensions 4 years ago. The Council of Ministers cannot let this drift.
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The fire fighters do an excellent job. Stop having a go at them just because you think have a poorly paid job in comparision to them. If you are that bothered by money speak to your boss and ask for more. If not try and get a job fire fighting, if you are fit enough, that is. Maybe you would fancy pulling a decapitated person from a road crash? Many I know wouldn’t like to do this, however this is but one possible scenerio facing fire fighters every day at work.
I think the finance sector is well paid when you take everything into consideration. Try doing a labouring job for minimum wage then you will have reason to complain.
A nice indoor job, no dirt to worry about, no bruising from hard knocks on site, no mud, no rain, no freezing weather working in pits int road. Most don’t know thay are born nowadays.
lula and others when the high cost of living falls wages will fall, until then I expect them to keep rising. Who’s fault is this? I blame those in charge myself. Bring the price of goods down over here and wages would fall, until then forget it. It is simple economics. Take VAT off of prices and you could cut wages by 15% straight away. However a few might make less in profit. If this were the case then so what? The island is a community of more than just a handfull of people isn’t it?
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