SIPTU fire fighters to commence national ballot for industrial action
SIPTU fire fighters are set to commence a national ballot for industrial action aimed at resisting the introduction of plans by the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government to implement cuts to fire services that will endanger fire crews and local communities.
SIPTU retained and full-time fire fighters from all 34 fire services across the country will vote on industrial action aimed at halting the implementation of changes to working practices contained in “Keeping Communities Safe”, a policy document published by the Department of the Environment on Thursday (7th February).
SIPTU Full-time Fire Fighter National Committee member, Brian Murray, said: “Our members are very concerned about the serious health and safety implications for themselves and the communities they serve if the so-called ‘Keeping Communities Safe’ document is implemented at the behest of the Department of the Environment by local authorities across the state.”
National Retained Fire Service Chairperson, John Gavigan, said: “In launching this policy document the Department of the Environment is displaying a total disregard for the lives of fire fighters. This policy will lead to further reductions in services, particularly in rural areas, and the closure of fire stations. This is following a similar policy of closures of rural post offices and Garda stations.
“This policy document has been drawn up by an anonymous group of people within the Fire Service National Management Body with the singular objective of cutting costs. The implications of these measures will be to fundamentally undermine the locally based fire and emergency services which have served the Irish public over generations.”
SIPTU Sector Organiser, Michael Wall, said: “No risk assessments of these proposals have been presented to fire fighters in order to comply with basic health and safety requirements. The decision to reduce crew levels by 20% and to change many automatic fire calls to discretionary calls will not only delay response times but also increase the risk to fire fighters and the general public.
The SIPTU full-time fire fighter and retained fire fighter national committees are scheduled to meet before the end of the month to decide on the date on which the national ballot for industrial action will commence.
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