Back in December 2012 IFESA balloted its members over the Keeping Communities Safe policy and the reduction of crew members.This resulted in 94% of IFESA members Nationally voting in favour of industrial action up to and including strike action. We stood alone as no other union balloted its Fire fighter members even though they promised it. Now we see the Department issue ,Good Practice Note 2.6 – Management of Attendance of Retained Crews (version 3.9, 4th December, 2014) Still there is no risk assessment for the reduced crewing of fire engines. Having discussed this document at length we are now considering what options are open to us to protect our members and the public we serve.We have previously and continue to taken High court action to protect our members over BA failures in Dublin ,so all viable options will be considered. In November 2012 we issued this press release: Weds. 28th November 2012 IFESA TO BALLOT MEMBERS ON INDUSTRIAL ACTION IN RESPONSE TO ‘KEEPING COMMUNITIES SAFE’ CUTS PROPOSALS The Irish Fire and Emergency Services Association (IFESA) is to ballot members on industrial action, including strike, in response to the planned introduction by the Department of the Environment of proposals set out in the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management’s ‘Keeping Communities Safe’ (KCS) strategy for the configuration of the fire services nationally. Announcing the ballot for industrial action IFESA National Chairman, John Kidd said: ‘IFESA has warned that the KCS proposals will result in the loss of hundreds of front line fire fighter posts around the country, with over a 100 posts being lost in Dublin Fire Brigade alone. These plans if implemented will see fire fighter numbers reduced and fire stations closed, this in turn will compromise the safety of the public and communities throughout the country.’ ‘Faced with the prospect of the proposals in the “Keeping Communities Safe” policy being rolled out across the country without proper risk assessment and with the potential to create significant dangers for communities and our members, IFESA is left with no option but to hold a ballot for industrial action up to and including strike.’ ‘We again call on Minister Phil Hogan to withdraw these proposals and introduce a National Fire and Ambulance Service which will deliver significant cost savings without compromising the safety of communities and fire fighters,’ he said. The deadline for the IFESA ballot is December 14th. …… END ……. (Full document will be on ifesa.ie)Extract below taken from document. The Good Practice Note (GPN) provides guidance for achieving the optimum recommended staffing levels for crewing of appliances in retained fire services and links the staffing levels to the fire station area risk categorisations under the KCS Area Risk Categorisation process. This set out two levels of staffing, an optimum crew complement of 9 personnel for a single pump station and an optimum crew complement of 15 for a two-pump station. This GPN proposes the introduction of an intermediate crewing level of some stations with 12 personnel, in addition to the optimal recommended staffing levels of 9 and 15 provided for by the 1999 Agreement. 5 personnel on the first pump mobilised from a station, to include a designated Incident Commander1, with 4 personnel on the second or subsequent pumps mobilised from the same station
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 08:43:00 +0000
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