Disruption ‘would be in breach of contract’
Wednesday 6th May 2009, 1:00PM BST.
THE public has a right for the airport firefighters’ pay issue to be settled without disruption, according to the two States bodies involved.
Firefighters have warned about potential disruption at the airport when a temporary agreement relating to shift cover runs out on Saturday.
Pay talks are deadlocked after nine months.
In a statement to the Guernsey Press, the Public Sector Remuneration Committee and Public Services Department stressed that they and union Unite had signed up to binding arbitration settling the issue if it remained unresolved by Saturday.
‘The public can be quite certain that there was no question whatsoever of the Public Sector Remuneration Committee or the Public Services Department entering into the agreement of 20 February 2009 without the clause referring to binding arbitration and no money would have been paid without airport firefighters’ commitment to this process,’ they said.
Both the committee and the department are cooperating with this process to ensure arbitration takes place without delay, they added.
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This sounds like a New labour ploy of deflectig the real bad news – the systemic failure of the negotiators representing the tax payer.
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Mrs SJ has just reminded me what is significant about this weekend.
What clown was responsible for making a temporary agreement which ends on Liberation Day?
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We have 500+ employed, perhaps we could start training some of them as firemen. There are plenty of people out there who would dearly love to have job such as this. Perhaps the States should be asking why so so many firemen are becoming ill. Are they fit enough to be undertaking the job they are employed to do? I hope the firemen never have to fly to the UK for medial treatment. Some patients wait months for an appointment but the firemen don’t care as they are obviously selfish and are only interested in No.1. They are a disgrace to this island.
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I am a nurse and used to work for the hospital – now working in the private sector. The truth is that the PSRC care nothing for local people – they look on us a easily dispensible and/or a captive group of workers who have little choice of where to work. The hospital has to rely on nurses to work huge amounts of overtime or employ agency nurses which is costing an absolute fortune (but no one hears about this as the hospital continues to function). The difference between us and the firemen is that the health services can recruit from other parts of the world and even then turnover is horrendous which is probably why they are now having to shut beds. Non-locals get lots of perks which locals don’t get in order to attract them to work here (extra bonues and housing allowances or cheap accommodation). Soon this island may well have to cope with a shortage of beds ……….. due to poor staffing levels. If the airport was able to recruit adequately trained fire fighters from elsewhere you can be assured that it would cost a lot more!
I am related by marriage to an airport fireman and i can say that they are not a bunch of selfish greedy workers who are asking for unreasonable pay. There is not a high sickness rate but the staffing levels at the moment are the lowest they can physically get and each watch (of which there are 3) has to provide a fireman to work overtime almost continuously: Most of the shifts are short due to staff attending mandatory courses – these are provided in the UK for 3 week periods and are physical and administrative tests and they have to adhere to the UK guidelines.
There are NOT plenty of people out there who want to be fire fighters – the last few adverts had a very poor response. One trainee has already left after 7 weeks as the pay was so poor and the training arduous. The argument that they sit around all day is ludicrous – perhaps you would rather a plane fell out of the sky every week or so to ensure they are ‘earning their money’?
Does anyone argue that the Arsenal firemen are sleeping in bed almost every night without a call and being paid night rates????? The arguments are flawed.
I do appreciate that there are people going to the UK for medical treatment and delayed flights are causing distress – but to re-iterate: the firemen are not on strike – it is just that they are no longer willing to work many extra shifts each week to cover absences or lack of staff. That is something our politicians should have dealt with months ago. I know of firemen whose marriages are at breaking point as they are continually called in – there has to be a work/life balance and at the moment it is an unworkable situation.
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Looks like the firefighters are welching on their agreement. Their Representative appears not to want to go down the AGREED arbitration route.
So they sign something and are noiw back peddling? Interesting. Why no arbitration Mr Firefighters? Let me guess?
- Too risky in current clime
- Fully staffed
- Argument weaker
- Might not like the outcome
- More people applying
The game is up, you have lost the public. Get around the table
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If the PRSC statement about binding arbitration is correct, I just wonder if they have dragged their feet over the past three months in order to get to arbitration.
No, they wouldn’t do that. Would they?
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Absolutely right Jackie. They might be able to bring the airport to a standstill but they have to see that this would be a Pyrrhic victory now. If they haven’t already done so, they will, indeed, lose the public.
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Jackie,
Its obvious you have been burnt in the past by a fireman. Nothing worse than a woman scorned!
We know who you are !
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It would seem that this States is hellbent on ripping off the lower paid essential services in order to subsidise the increasingly derided tax dodging industry.
Why would anyone want to bother working in the public sector when there is so much back stabbing from their employers?
People are stuck in the mindset that organising a complaint against pay and conditions is somehow a sin. Time to move out of the nineteen eighties, folks, and realise that if you want a stable democracy in order for the ‘wealthy entrepreneurs’ (are they still ariving in their boatload, hmm?) to boost employment generally, then you need a well run public infrastructure.
Support the firefighters and remind the politicians who makes Guernsey really work.
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The politicians have no interest in how much the public sector actually prop up this island. I heard Al Brouard on the radio this morning saying that in todays climate (i.e. the credit crunch) the firemen should basically be grateful to have a job! The arrogance was unbelievable – and it may come as a shock to him but if all the firemen walked out today they would easily walk into better paid jobs – and then where would the island be? Having just read the press there seems to be some question over who actually signed up to arbitration on behalf of Ron Le Cras. Interesting times ahead. Just as well i cannot afford to go on holiday ………..
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Jackie
The points you make as to why the firefighters should go to arbitration may well be valid.
However, the primary negotiating route is with the PRSC. The question is whether the PRSC and especially its civil servant negotiators, really wanted and were able to agree, a negotiated settlement in the first place.
The point is why should the firefighters go to arbitration just because the PRSC cannot deliver its mandate – to negotiate and areach an agreement.
Knowing the people who are “negotiating” for the PRSC, I am inclined to believe the view why should the firefighters go down the arbitration route when the PRSC seems so impotent.
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Get real people. The PRSC has gone as far as it can go with what it sees as being a more than reasonable offer. In actual fact It may or may not be reasonable, but in the event of a protracted stalemate the agreed process, which the firefighters signed up to (the signature of one of their representatives is on that document) is for both parties to go to arbitration. I don’t see how the firefighters and their union can now simply move the goalposts like this without the opprobrium of a fed up and suffering public being heaped upon them.
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“We know who you are ! ”
That could be construed as an implicit threat; Make sure you don’t go making threatening the wrong woman
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Stephen, I am having difficulty seeing your point. You seem to be saying that the because the PRSC have not conceded to the firefighters’ requests, the firefighters should not be made to go to arbitration. As none of us are involved in the discussions it could equally said that because the firefighters have not accepted the PRSC offer, that the PRSC should not be forced to go to arbitration. None of us know which party is being more reasonable than the other.
The point is that two (or is it three?) parties have failed to reach an agreement. That possibility was foreseen when the current agreement was sorted out and the firefighters were given more money on the basis that if this latest period did not result in a permanent agreement, there would be arbitration to sort it out once and for all.
It does not matter who is at fault. The point of arbitration is not to point the finger but to get a final resolution. I think that we can all agree that this needs to be resolved one way or another. As the parties obviously cannot do it themselves, arbitration is the way to go. Arguing about how we got to this point does not help resolve the issue.
If the firefighters are so sure of the reasonableness of their position, then the arbitration will work in their favour.
If there is no arbitration there will be no resolution and we, the public, should ask the firefighters to return the extra £24,000 that was agreed last time since it was obviously taken on false pretences.
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Stephen
The fireman have a signed agreement to go to arbitration after this 3 month period. The history is now irrelevent – let the arbiter sort it out and if PSRC are proven wrong, the post mortem can be had another day.
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Front page of Weekly Press has the deputy industrial relations person Michelle Tiffin as saying she has refused to register a dispute and that it is a management matter.
So, it is still in the hands of the PRSC. However, I can understand why the PRSC wants to pass the buck!!!
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Can someone in authority please answer once and for all whether Terms and Conditions are suitable for an arbitrator to decide on? This whole argument appears to be about that and not pay. The firemen are not on strike, are not refusing to carry out their jobs – they just don’t want to work increasing overtime, which is resulting in poor work/life balance and putting strain on their families.
If the answer is YES then both sides need to put their case forward with all the evidence they have and accept the decision.
If the answer is NO then the PSRC need to accept that they have to fulfil the mandate for which they were elected – and negotiate properly.
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Arbitration should always be a last resort. But if it does to arbitration then the PSRC don’t exactly have a good track record lately, so we can expect the firefighters to be happy.
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Molly, The firemen may feel that they are unpaid and overworked but why should the travelling public suffer. We are not part of this dispute. There can be no excuss for anyone to cause distress to those who lifes are affected by illness. How long will it be until people whose medical appointments have been lost as a result of this action get another appointment? I am sorry but nothing justifies distress caused to the sick.
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Geoff: threatening Jackie is not doing your case any favours – she is entitled to her opinions like everyone else. You may not agree with them but there is no need to use bullying tactics.
This dispute with the PSRC should not be made personal – and the firemen have to accept that if flights are disrupted the public will lose patience and sympathy – you can’t blame them for that. On the other hand the public have to accept that firemen cannot be forced to work overtime – and this is where the PSRC do not appear to be willing to negotiate. Whether an independent tribunal will have the authority to force the PSRC to increase staffing levels or provide a formal on-call system is another matter.
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I agree with Arnald, and Molly:
Far too often the, the risk factor these men face, are side-lined. The big noises want it all, all those who think the Firefighters are wrong go and take a shift with them—And pray it won’t be a gruesome test for you-
Whatever happens. they deserve a rise; and I hope they keep it going-
If they had stopped altogether, would be a different tale.
But Molly is right; Guernsey people are looked down on by these intruders to our Island. Get thee gone–
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