Government attempting to break retained firefighters’ strike, says union

Retained firefighters are to escalate their strike action over the coming weeks, with their union accusing the Government of attempting to break them by failing to engage.

After representatives of the State’s roughly 2,000 retained firefighters met on Wednesday, Siptu said it had been decided that, from this Saturday, all internal communications around call-outs would stop except where “life-saving information” is involved.

The union said the number of stations impacted by the strike action at any given time would start to increase if matters remained unresolved after a week.

About half of the roughly 200 fire stations across the State are closing on a rolling basis due to the dispute, with geography playing a part in the firefighters’ calculations as they seek to ensure that cover is available from nearby locations.

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From Saturday week, however, they say they will close an additional station a week in an effort to force a response from a Government whose “silence” the union described as “astonishing”. The Coalition has “abandoned the retained fire service… in an effort to break their dispute”, said Siptu organiser Karan O’Loughlin.

“This dispute has run on over nine weeks and there’s been no hurry on them to invite us back in to talks or even to ask us have we settled our ambitions in any way. There’s none of that normal sort of political noise that you hear around these things,” she said.

“So it’s very difficult. The firefighters find themselves in a very difficult place when they’re having to make these decisions about the strike because they’re based in the communities they serve. They’re quite stressed about this but, at the same time, they’re angry because they feel they’ve been disrespected.”

[ Firefighters warn Taoiseach strike will escalate and lives could be put at risk if dispute not resolved ]

Ms O’Loughlin said there had been no contact with Minister for Local Government Darragh O’Brien since a meeting on the day the result of the union’s ballot on a Labour Court recommendation in relation to the dispute was announced.

The court had recommended increases to the minimum numbers of retained firefighters in stations, cuts to the percentage of call-outs individual firefighters would be required to respond to, the recruitment of 400 new firefighters and increases of 24-32 per cent to the annual retainer paid, which currently ranges from €8,870 to €12,145.

Siptu members rejected the proposal by 82 per cent to 18 per cent, with the union suggesting the percentage increases to retainers were inadequate because the base figures were so low and that the recruitment targets were unrealistic while the pay was at even the projected levels.

Ms O’Loughlin said Mr O’Brien had indicated the proposal was “the only game in town” when the two sides met and that he would advocate for the firefighters in the forthcoming national public sector pay talks if it was accepted.

Similarly, the Local Government Management Association said it was committed to addressing the issues behind the dispute and believed “a resolution is possible through acceptance of the current Labour Court offer and engagement with the forthcoming national pay talks”.