Airport firefighters’ pay solution still grounded
Tuesday 3rd February 2009, 2:29PM GMT.
YET more flights could be cancelled as a two-year dispute about firefighters’ on-call pay rumbles on.
Airport fire crews’ representatives again met the Public Sector Remuneration Committee yesterday but failed to resolve the issue.
On Sunday, 800 passengers’ travel plans were disrupted when Flybe flights were cancelled.
Following the end of a six-month agreement between the PSRC and firefighters, the minimum number of crew needed to cover the use of the airline’s Dash 8 aircraft could not be found.
The firefighters had been paid overtime until the agreement expired on Saturday night.
Unite regional industrial organiser Ron Le Cras said there was no obligation to cover staff shortages. At present there are 27 of the 30 firefighters needed to cover three shifts.
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I wonder how many of them were booked on flights due to depart/arrive that day…
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Sack the lot of them and get in some Polish workers. Half the price and glad for the work.
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Sacking the staff that are already there is not a very sustainable option, whilst we may have to pay ‘LOCALS’ more at least the money will be going back into our economy. And how can we expect our firemen to continue working when they are paid so poorly when compared to Jersey and other juristictions. Besides I know this is digressing slightly but the States have given a bigger rise in benefits for the unemloyed then to those who work for the island, now that, in my mind shows the incompetence of the current governing body.
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Well Jarrod, I didn’t really mean sack the lot of them. But clearly far too much power is in the hands of the likes of Red Ron. It’s high time ‘some’ public servants understood the precarious state our island is in.
As for there salaries, do me a favour please, the job is a doddle; allowances, second jobs and not really work is it?
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What a coincidence that a fireman was taken ill the day after the six month deal on cover expired. Should we be employing sickly people in such a vital role?
The £300,000 needed to replace an essential piece of equipment, destroyed (by an act of God presumably) while being practised on by firemen some years ago, would have gone a long way to meet the firemen’s pay claim.
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Perhaps these firemen have second jobs because their wages are poor? I don’t know what they earn. They cannot cover extra shifts if they have a second job can they?
Not everyone earns good wages – and i know lots of shift workers who have second jobs including ambulance workers, police and doctors. It is a fact of life that the cost of living is rising over here.
Jackie – your first comment is so pathetic that it is obvious you have not thought it through. More homes needed, money going out of the island as these immigrant workers send most of their wages home – and then there is the issue of training, recruitment and retention – a costly business! What sector do you work in as a matter of interest: public or private?
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It’s not that pathetic Merlin, – althoug somewhat tongue in cheek. If ‘firemen’ can hold an island to ransom because they have a beligerant union and are a hangover of 70s militancy then importing appreciative, cheaper staff should be considered – Failing that privatise it. You will accept that the airport is of strategic import and you will also know that Red Ron knows he has a gun to the head of the islanders and can shut that airport down in an instant.
To misquote Churchill completely. ‘Never in the field of industrial conflict can so much be damaged by so few’
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Hi Jackie
I agree that Red Ron appears to be a hangover from the Arthur Scargill years BUT he is the union representative for the public sector manual workers and they have to go through him. I do agree with you that the airport is of strateigic importance to the island but these firefighters have been waiting patiently and working with the PSRC for over 2 years – how long are they expected to continue working on their days off and having to have 2nd jobs in order to provide a decent living? The PSRC needs something to jump-start their negotiations and I guess the firefighters refusing to work their allocated days off is what they consider a last resort.
I think that the Airport firemen have had a raw deal and it is not them holding the island to ransom it is the incompetence of the States PSRC. They have asked and no doubt paid an extortionate amount of money to have reports written, which have proved that the Guernsey firemen are underpaid when compared to similar jurisdictions i.e. Jersey and the Isle of Man – then chosen to ignore the recommendations. Where are the members of the PSRC when they are needed. Who are the senior civil servants and how much are they being paid to bury their heads in the sand and ignore what is happening?
I do feel sorry for Al Brouard who has inherited a pile of poo when it comes to the PSRC. The whole committtee needs looking at. No doubt this will soon go to an independent tribunal who will recommend on-call payments or similar remuneration to other airport fire fighters. This will have cost the taxpayer even more money – for a problem which could have been sorted out 2 years ago.
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