FIREFIGHTERS at five stations across County Limerick have taken to the picket line in anger at a lack of resolution to their call for a proper pay structure.
And as 50 personnel employed in the retained service downed tools, SIPTU Public Administration and Community Division Organiser Karan O’Loughlin told the Limerick Post that “it’s not good enough for the Government to go off on their holidays and leave firefighters at the side of the road.”
But in the absence of any contingency plan being agreed with the local authority, the crews have said they will drop the placards to answer emergency call-outs.
The row centres on the fire crews working on a small retainer which sees them on-call and only paid extra when they answer actual call-outs.
The Labour Court had recommended that the retainer 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.
There are also major issues to be resolved concerning recruitment in the service, which is massively understaffed, Ms O’Loughlin says.
“Striking is the very last resort for these crews. They serve the communities they live in and they do not want to be on the picket line,” the SIPTU organiser explained.
“These are frontline workers but they have no structured pay scheme and their incomes are very precarious despite providing 24/7 cover and being unable to be further than five minutes from the fire station while they are on-call.
“It makes it very difficult for any of them to have a regular job. They have to be employed five minutes from the station, be able to drop everything and go if they are on-call and even if they are up all night fighting a fire, they are expected to turn into work the next day.
“Some of the fires they attend are quite horrific. The Government is showing no respect for the work these people do,” she said.
Ms O’Loughlin added: “Retained firefighters are striking to ensure that a government report on the future of the service is implemented in full in order to resolve the recruitment and retention crisis that threatens to collapse this essential community resource.
“Our members have pursued, for years now, every avenue and process for resolution open to them and yet, with strike action as a last resort commencing and there is not an ounce of political will from Ministers Darragh O’ Brien and Paschal Donohoe or An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to resolve this dispute.
“The lack of understanding about the job and the lack of respect for the men and women in the retained service is shocking.”
The Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage 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.
“Refusal to use the Tetra radio system and arbitrary increases to pre-determined attendance of appliances to incidents is counter to risk assessments undertaken and is unacceptable.
“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.”
