Firemans Strike

[DaveEllen]

Looks like the strike is on.........

Do you think its right or wrong ?

[Matthew_McNally]

Looks like the strike is on.........

Do you think its right or wrong ?

I am afraid I have little sympathy for them

:(

yes they are incredibly brave, and do a heroic job - I am not knocking them at all.

but

to expect a 40% pay raise, and no be prepared to make any changes to their working practises is very un-realistic.

They have allegedly turned down a 16% increase, and have now refused 11%?

That is a decent offer in todays market - can think of many people who would bite their employers hands off with for an offer like that.

And the real killer, is that they are not that badly done by.

I am sure I read that they are roughly in the middle of the national pay scale - so they earn more than roughly 50% of the country anyway.

All in all - I have no sympathy for them at all (on the subject of pay raises)

:(

[DaveEllen]

I concur

[javadude]

In an economic climate where many employees face no pay rise and possibly redundancy 40% seems a little unrealistic.

[DaveEllen]

The thing that gets me is that they have refused to accept any new working practices.

The first fatality that arises from this strike will see public opinion shift quickly away from them.....

[simonskippy]

Looks like the strike is on.........

Do you think its right or wrong ?

I am afraid I have little sympathy for them

:(

yes they are incredibly brave, and do a heroic job - I am not knocking them at all.

but

to expect a 40% pay raise, and no be prepared to make any changes to their working practises is very un-realistic.

They have allegedly turned down a 16% increase, and have now refused 11%?

That is a decent offer in todays market - can think of many people who would bite their employers hands off with for an offer like that.

And the real killer, is that they are not that badly done by.

I am sure I read that they are roughly in the middle of the national pay scale - so they earn more than roughly 50% of the country anyway.

All in all - I have no sympathy for them at all (on the subject of pay raises)

:(

Totally agree, 40% is extremely unrealistic and all that will happen is that they will cut costs to stay within budgets, so the Firemen could get a hefty pay rise but will also find that they make a large number of their colleagues redundant. They do a damn fine job, but remember that they have to volunteer for the role and they do know the pay scale when they get into it.

Si

[tdiplc]

Anyone heard of a Fireman with less than 2 jobs ;)

[ricky_is200]

Isn't that partly because of the amount of time off they get. I don't know the exact figures but the numbers of hours they do per week pretty shocking (i.e. not many).

[masharp]

It does not help there cause with all the emotional blackmail which they are now shoving out.

Houses left to burn, people left trapped in cars etc.

Also if they get 40% everyone will want it, there will be more people striking than working.

[jenners]

I don't agree with the strike but I do have sympathy for them. When I heard how much money they are on and compared this, for example, to a london underground train driver (30K+), I was totally shocked . - they save lives (and many other professions do as well but this is about firemen)

Lets face it, how many people go to work in the knowledge that they might not come home again

I know 40% sounds a lot but 40% of what they get is not a massive amount. Perhaps they should increase it year on year and do it on a gradual basis.

[Claire G]

I agree with Jenners. 40% of sod all is sod all

[masharp]

40% takes them to £35K, quite a lot compared to other professions. They also know what the wages are before they take the job.

I do agree that train drivers getting £30K is ridiculous, they only have to accelerate and brake.

[andyhart21]

I have no sympathy at all. I dont think £23 + 11% is a bad wage for 3 x 12 hour shifts a week. The job is dangerous, but they knew that when taking on the job. The job is getting easier and safer all the time as new equipment becomes available.

I know two firemen, and 80% of the time they do absolutely nothing apart from drills and cleaning duties. They both say that on average they get called to one serious incident every 3 weeks!

I just think that 40% is plain unreasonable.

I heard a fireman on the radio tonight saying that if anyone dies when they are strike, blame Mr. Blair, Prescott and Brown. I don't see their reasoning somehow....... I know who I would blame if anything happened when they were on strike

[ricky_is200]

I do agree that train drivers getting £30K is ridiculous, they only have to accelerate and brake.

Yet they are also going on strike for more money. And they get 6 weeks holiday and only work 4 day weeks

[Monster-Mat]

dangerous job my bottom........only sometimes are they in so much danger...there trained to spot these dangers....hey.....im gonna get the Army on strike,i think our job is dangerous..but crikey no....we can do there job aswell now....hey ,bin men why dont you go on strike aswell,the army will cover that one aswell.......in a couple of months time when im sat upto my bottom in diesel in a flippin 30 year old tank kissing the fairys that blow bubbles out my bottom everytime im doing a mine breach........,or crazy demolition on some messed up crap ,doing bridging across oil pipelines,pumping tons of diesel across the desert ,or laying my flipping dam pretty bottom on the line for some rubbish cause i will think of those very hard done by firemen .........tossers,think of the harm your doing you selfish people...

:angry:

[simonskippy]

I know 40% sounds a lot but 40% of what they get is not a massive amount. Perhaps they should increase it year on year and do it on a gradual basis.

Sorry I have to disagree there are thousands of Firemen and Women out there that are doing the job, if you gave them a 40% pay rise, you say that 40% or not alot is not alot but then multiply that by the thousands of people that you have to give this rise to and this gives you an massive hole in their budget - where will this come from - other public services.

They do do a damn fine job and I agree they do put them selves in harms way sometimes during their working life, however so do police men, paramedics, nurses etc. None of them are crying out for 40% even though they are on less already.

Public opinion seems to be turning against the firemen day by day, their argument that politicians gave themselves 40% pay rise therefore they deserve a 40% pay rise is complete rubbish. I disagree with the 40% rise the politicians gave themselves but they are two seperate issues and should be treated as such.

Si

[tdiplc]

Well said Simon and Mat - the voices of reason.

[spike]

Totally agree Simon,

While they do a superb job there are plenty of people that also do an equally valuable job but are not in the position to demand such a huge increase. What would happen if we went to war tomorrow, would all the soldiers go on strike untill they were given 40%?

[brn7y]

I'll back your strike plans Matt.

Hey if everyone in my industry was to go on strike, we could shut down the globe in days.

Fire Fighters would not need 40%, as they would not be able to get to the fires anyway!

Matt would not need to go to war, as he would have to walk!

So then mister Blair, take back the 40% pay rise for politicians, and all there travel expenses as they wouldn't be travelling, cancel the Oil profits tax and tell Europe to “Go **** It’s Self” over the proposed cuts in Fishing, stop **** this country up!

The best thing we can all do is emigrate!!!

Oh and give the fire fighters 3% that’s all I got this year!

[spike]

What industry are you in brn7y?

[brn7y]

Oil - Black Gold - Texas T!

(say with yank accent) *** damn it boy! It's a living!

[Monster-Mat]

that union leader.....Gilcrest,he is a ****........

all i can say is the Army will do its best

[DaveEllen]

on a linked theme have you heard the engine noise of the green goddess's...........lovely straight 6......

As an army brat used to get bussed to school in similair engined buses........memories.......

[Brian Berry]

40% not realistic, it would open the floodgates for any other public service. The firemen do not want their conditions of work altered which governs the shift patterns owing to the fact that it would interfere with their second jobs.

I feel sorry for the army backing up with out of date equipment which does not do justice to their professional attitude and also the public will suffer as a result.

[Risky3301]

Looks like they are not many fireman who own a Lexus and are members of the owners club shame that, would be nice to get a opinion from someone on receiving end. Must have something do with the money they earn. 20k

All the quotes here are based on bias news reports in the media, the only thing that's true in every daily newspaper is the date and as for the TV, talk about over hype.

The firemen/women deserve every penny they get and if they get anywhere near the 40% then good luck to them.

Best Regards

Risky