Flybe forced to charter due to lack of fire cover
Friday 6th February 2009, 2:29PM GMT.
FLYBE has had to charter a smaller aircraft to operate its flights for part of this weekend because of the threat of insufficient firefighter cover.
The ATR is smaller than that Dash 8 it uses normally and can operate with a lower level of cover.
Public Services had warned that there might not be enough cover for 24 hours from noon on Saturday for the Dash 8 to have operated.
The airline has been incensed by the way the Public Services Department has handled what looks likely to be a second weekend of disruption.
PSD warned of the difficulties with cover in a media statement yesterday afternoon and advised passengers to book a flight with another airline.
That angered Ian Taylor, Flybe’s general manager market development. He said he had not been informed that there was a problem.
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I wonder if the tables were turned whether the PSD would be so quick to advise islanders to book a flight with Flybe instead of the State owned Aurigny?
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words fail my husband and I, should not everybody pull together at the moment, the firemen should be thankful they have a job, even if it is of the utmost importance, as we say words fail us, you need to do what the uk do, pull in the army , or likewise, there are many many poor people without jobs over there, only too pleased to earn a wage to save their family.
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This dispute highlights once again the problem with pay and working conditions negociations with PCRC and associated Public Service bodies coordinated by the States of Guernsey.
This pay dispute has now gone to an industrial disputes officer. This appears to be exactly the same pathway as other recent pay negociation failures with the States. Can anyone else see a trend here!!!. I do not think the firefighters are at fault here at all. They may be trying to highlight a point, which is the breakdown of communication between one sector of the public sector and its employer – the States. The employer is at fault that Flybe has to charter new planes, the employer is at fault that there is insufficient firefigthers to provide sickness / annual leave cover and the employer is at fault for all the cancelled flights and negative impact on Guernsey. They probably have had many months notice of this and have not reached any agreements.
No doubt this will be happening again in another sector within the States. How will the States behave inteh future – certainly they have never learned form past decisions or lessons.
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The Guernsey fire fighters are only asking for the same wages as those doing the same job in other jurisdictions get – what is unfair about that? Now and again people have to stand up and be counted. Guernsey has a very low unemployment rate and these people have undergone intense training and updates – we need to keep them before they hand their notices in and make the problem even worse. The numbers in the GP show that the turnover is increasing as wages have been dropping in comparison with other trades.
Give them their on-call pay – it will probably work out cheaper than paying out for overtime anyway!
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I would propose that we run a shuttle helicopter service to Jersey, it would only add 45 minutes to a flight time.Then use the overly large airport terminal as the basis for a replacement Les Beaucamp school.
Thus saving a huge amount of money on airport runway expense and school development. Less firefighters would be needed,less shiny fire engines, less personal all round.
For the regular/business commutor 45 minutes extra on the journey would not be too much to ask for living in place like Guernsey.
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