The country’s retained firefighters will escalate their strike action from this Saturday morning and possibly even further over the coming weeks after their union accused the government of attempting to ‘break them’ by failing to engage.
Firefighters are in dispute with the government over pay, recruitment and staff retention. Hundreds of years of experience have been lost following the resignation of dozens of firefighters across the country in recent years.
Many stations have found themselves significantly understrength while local authorities are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit staff to fill vacancies.
SIPTU, which representatives of the state’s 2,000 retained firefighters, met on Wednesday and afterwards decided that from today, all internal communications around call-outs would stop except where “life-saving information” is involved.
Currently, half the retained stations in each country are closed at any time on an alternating basis. The union said the number of stations affected by strike action would start to increase if there is no resolution of outstanding issues.
Firefighters have made sure however that the geography of their countries are considered to ensure that cover is available from the next nearest station if needed.
From today at 08.00am, retained firefighters will commence ‘Going Dark’ actions, comprising the cessation of normal communications with management. Firefighters in stations ‘On the Run’, will continue to respond to life threatening calls, however communications with management will cease”.
Once an emergency call-out has concluded, the appliance will return to the station and the Regional Control Centre will be notified of the conclusion of the call. If during an emergency call, there is a requirement to convey a priority message, then the Regional Control Centre will be contacted by the responding crew.
From Saturday 19th August, at 08.00am, if there is no change or progress, there will be a further escalation of the strike action, entailing a further station being taken off the run at any given time in each county.
If by Saturday 26th August there is still no change, a further station will be taken off the run at any given time in each county and this pattern will continue weekly to reach 75% of stations off the run across all counties.
The Committee will meet to consider further escalation of the dispute thereafter.
