London Fire Brigade.....

[flip_flop]

....are scheduled to go on strike on Bonfire Night.

How cynical - and dangerous - is this?

[ummmm]

It's crazy......

[NoMercy]

So they were never in the job for the benefit of saving lives then? Just in it for the wonga?

[boxtops]

Blackmail, nothing more, a press report last night said that the strikers were quoted as saying that the employers have a fortnight to sort it. Bring back the Green Goddesses!

[TTG]

It would have been better to go on strike a few days after. They could then have mentioned a list of what they had to do during Bonfire night as part of their campaign.

[fredpuli47]

Once before, when the fire brigade threatened to go on strike, the government hinted that it might make firemen subject to the same law that governs the police viz. it is unlawful for police to go on strike.
It's surprising that the law doesn't already have that provision. Firemen may endanger lives by being on strike, however well-intentioned they may be about attending serious emergencies then.

[jno]

so it's immoral to work for money? Oh dear, I was in work for the wonga myself, and I have heard that other people do the same. (Not you high-minded lot, of course.) And they should only go on strike when it doesn't matter, for maximum pointlessness? If you want a fire service, pay them the money they want or they'll go elsewhere; that's market economics.

[NoMercy]

Well never mind the poor lives that may be lost during a strike.

[China Doll]

Why should public sector workers not have the right to strike if they're getting a raw deal? We expect them to put their own lives at risk and walk in to hazards we'd never do ourselves and yet we don't want to listen to their needs? Personally I get more annoyed with the tube strikes.

[NoMercy]

I get annoyed by airline strikes too. I get annoyed by all strikes to be perfectly honest.

When it comes to the emergency services tho, it does infuriate me. If workers don't like the pay/conditions/etc., they could just leave and enter another, more "rewarding" profession. Putting peoples' lives at risk is immoral and selfish.

[China Doll]

Not listening to someone who daily puts their life at risk to help others is more selfish and immoral in my opinion, they don't do it for good will alone. Have to agree to disagree on this one. They're not idols, they're people doing a dangerous and sometimes unplesant job who should be rewarded as such.

[sandyRoe]

If some groups are to be denied the right to strike then their pay and conditions should be such that they won't want to.

[NoMercy]

Sandy, I very much doubt any amount would be enough for them.

[NoMercy]

China, I don't disagree with you on the risks that the Firemen take, but they don't do it on a daily basis. The vast majority of their time is not spent tackling fires. They are on a better rate of pay than emergency workers who saves lives every day of the week.

[jno]

here are the national pay scales for firefighters

http://www.payscale.c...b=Fire_Fighter/Salary

Pretty average (the national average salary is somewhere around £25,000). If you think firefighting is a more than averagely important job, pay them more.

[Davethedog]

I take it that you work set hours say 9-5 suppose your employer cam in today and said your hours are now 7-3 and if you don't accept it I will sack you all and you can reapply for your jobs under what ever conditions I set. I take it this entirely acceptable to all of you who are against this strike?

Why do airline staff go on strike during school holidays?

The Firemen have asked for negotiation and its been denied, so they either shut up or put up and they have decided to put up.

They might not fight fires every day but I am willing to bet that more fire fighters have died in the last year than any other service.

[Gromit]

They do not use the military green godesses for cover anymore, they use very expensive private operators instead.

The fortune they will pay these private operators over the strike period could have been used to compensate firemen for the changes to the contracts the authority want to impose on these brave men.

Instead, vast amounts of money will be siphoned off to the private sector, and a lot of acrimonious talk will occur before the authority will have to compromise and the firefighters will get most of their demands.

On the plus side, it lets Tory non-entities waffle on about militants which in turn encourages the Telegraph, Express and Mail to write pages of Union Bashing articles.

[Davethedog]

They will provide emergency cover - so if your house catches fire you will be ok.

They are not striking over money.

[Sqad]

Strikes are a legal method of "negotiation" in the UK, so if one is to use this method, then they should be arranged at the most uncomfortable times for the unfortunate recipients and this has always been the case..Miner´s Strikes, Postal strikes, Railway Strikes.

So what is new?