Support Your Fire Fighters THE REASON I SHARED THIS, IS BECAUSE EVERY SINGLE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE IS TO HAVE THEIR PENSIONS CUT. OOPS, EXCEPT OF COURSE, MPs. Picture this: you walk into McDonalds and order a double McCheese Burger. The sales assistant tells you it’ll cost £2, and you hand over your freshly minted £2 piece. The assistant goes away and comes back with a single McCheese Burger. You enquire as to why he’s given you a single McCheese Burger, when you bought and paid for a double. Then he replies “sorry sir, I know that’s what you ordered, and I know that’s what you paid for, but the economic circumstances of McDonalds have changed since you paid and I am only now going to give you a single, so we can help reduce our deficit” Would you accept that as a good explanation? That’s what your government, and I do say your government, is trying to do to the Fire Fighters and Fire Services in The UK. They want to save 73 million pounds by halving the fire fighter’s pensions if they retire at 55, when they are currently entitled to. If they want the full pension they’ll have to work to at least the age of 60. You might think that sounds ridiculous. I think most people would find that to be drastically unfair. I think most people would think if you join a pension service on certain terms then your provider should not be the one trying to get out of it – especially when you know they used some of your money to prop up failing banks that they allowed to act like drunken arseholes with your money, whilst you worked your nads off to support your family through the crisis they created. You might think that and you’d be right too. But your government doesn’t see it that way. Not only is it doing this to fire fighters, it’s doing it to the police and teachers too. If you don’t think it’s a problem, why don’t you apply this line of thought to your own life. Try renegotiating your contract with your mobile phone provider. Tell them you don’t fancy paying the full rate any more. Even tell the government you don’t like your council tax band and you’re going to move down a few – see what happens. One rule for you buddy - it’s quite another for them. Let’s forget all the scare mongering and hyperbole. It’s simply morally abhorrent to take money from employees to fund a pension, on the promise of a certain payout at the end, then change it so drastically before they get it. You could change it for new entrants. It wouldn’t be a good idea if you want a good fire service, but it would be morally more defensible. You cannot morally do this to anyone who has joined on the basis of the current pension. Oh and a few points for anyone still against the fire fighters:- Yeah some of them have 4 day on / 4 days off patterns and they get second jobs – they work a full week in those 4 days so you get your money’s worth. Unless they spend the other 4 days as an arsonist, It’s not your business what they do in their days off. However no one is stopping you from taking a second job either. They get paid a good wage – sure they do, but that’s an argument to raise your wages, not to destroy their pension. Don’t be so bloody British about it i.e. petty, small minded and jealous. I have to work until 60 – you may have to, but imagine a fire fighter dragging around heavy hoses and running up stairs in an oxygen tank. How long you think that oxygen will last if the guy breathing it is 58? They should stay fit – big talk from one of the most obese populations in the world. I did their training during the last strike, as an emergency trained fire fighter with the RAF. There were guys in the RAF in their 40′s on the same course as me who sucked in oxygen at such a rate their tanks ran out far too quick to save your life in a fast fire. And another thing, do you really think the government expects to have 60 year old fire fighters? No of course it doesn’t. It knows that what’s more likely is that the current set will get annoyed and demoralised. They know some of them will fail the fitness test and that a good number will simply leave before they get to 55. It’s the same strategy they’ve employed with the police. They hope to stop people from joining the services for life, just so they don’t have to pay good pensions. Their chosen employee is a young 25 year old, who joins for a few years, gains some experience then uses it to get a better job. Believe me, the actions of the government will save money. There’s no doubt about that. The problem is that it’ll be at the expense of expertise, ability, safety, capability, and essentially all of the qualities that you’ll expect from the person who comes to save you from your fire, investigate your crime, or teach your children. If you want good public services, you’ve got to pay for them, and you’ve got to be fair with their pensions. If you don’t support them, you won’t have a leg to stand on when the government comes for your money and your pensions. The Beard.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 07:24:11 +0000
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