Manchester Fire Fighters to go on strike?
Article published: Monday, August 17th 2009
There are signs that a new round of strikes by fire fighters could take place in the next month. The government could face industrial action on a scale not seen since the Fire Brigades’ Union (FBU) strike of 2002.
The FBU cites cuts in frontline services and reductions in spending as the cause of unrest. The Manchester branch of the FBU claims that it has seen cuts of £29.4 million in the last four years and a loss of 475 firefighter posts in Greater Manchester since 2002.
The souring of relations has been shadowed by the news that the government plans to use private contractors rather than the army to cover any future strikes, due to the armed forces being overstretched in Afghanistan. This has been condemned by unions who see the move as a creeping privatisation of emergency services.
The chief executive of a firm who has signed a contract with the London service was quoted in the Guardian this week as saying “this market is potentially huge and there is no reason why this trend could not spread to other emergency agencies”.
The Manchester fire fighting service is split into two boroughs which share five stations. On 1 July a new system was implemented by the Greater Manchester Fire Authority whereby fire engines are shared by the stations to provide cover on different days of the week. The result, the FBU claims, is that 18 times a week a fire engine is unavailable to one of the stations. Incredibly Manchester Central is not classified as a key area and so receives less cover.
Against the backdrop of recession the government has pledged to massively cut its public spending in order to avert an inflationary crisis. The FBU believes frontline services will be detrimentally affected and its members are to be balloted on changes to working conditions and reductions in staff levels.
Petition your local councilor at the Save Our Fire Services website, run by Manchester FBU at http://www.manchester.fbu.org.uk/?page_id=61
More: Manchester, News
Comments
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go for it guys if the government want to keep cutting money and jobs in a service what saves peoples lives then i back the firefighters all the way. and the government have got blood on there hands.with emergency services they should be putting money into them more than paying millions for bridges and thing that no one bothers with. if any of them needed the fire service and one never turned up then they would change there mind
Comment by karl marsh on August 19, 2009 at 11:00 am
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