Firefighters lobby Fife Council

28th August 2002
Over 100 firefighters from Fife converged on Fife Police headquarters on Wednesday 28th August, to lobby a meeting of Fife Council's Community Safety Committee. It was part of the Fire Brigade Union campaign for a fair wage. firefighters across the country are demanding a £30k salary and a new pay formula for providing what is arguably the most demanding and dangerous public service.

After last minute negotiations with the council, a statement from the FBU was delivered by Cllr Andrew Keddie at the start of the meeting in which he spoke of Fife Council's support for the campaign and a new pay formula. Councillors from all parties echoed this during the meeting and condemned the massive pay rises to some Firemasters by councils who have refused to discuss firefighters and emergency control staff pay levels. In Strathclyde Firemaster Ord got a rise of £22,500 after a review and an annual increment on top of that of £4,500. Tayside Firemaster Stephen Hunter was awarded a ride of almost £6,500 on Tuesday this week.

A number of councillors took time to encourage the firefighters as they entered the meeting. Council leader Christine May gave her support to the campaign saying, "It's been too long since the fire brigade pay formula was reviewed. Something must be done, but it must be part of a national process of modernisation."

Fife FBU secretary Linda Shanahan told the Voice, "Modernisation for our employers means taking away our conditions. For us, modernisation means integrating systems of training we've had to produce ourselves over the years, looking to the future, and preparing for it."

The councillors who addresses the firefighters all spoke of their admiration for the fire brigade and said they would do everything they could to help the campaign succeed. Communist Party councillor Willie Clarke pointed out that "Words are easy, it's action that is needed."

Linda Shanahan remained cynical. "I hope the councillors get off their backsides and do something. Our employers came to us today with an offer of 4%. That's useless. We don't want plaudits. We don't want just words. We want to be valued for what we do."

The FBU had been hoping to bring a 'Green Goddess' to the lobby, to remind councillors that in the event of a strike it would be the army, using these dated machines, that would be dealing with fires. Unfortunately, the 'Green Goddess' broke down.