Sinn Féin councillor Donna McGettigan has declared her support for Clare’s retained firefighters currently engaged in strike action.
The industrial action follows the rejection by 82% of SIPTU firefighters, of Labour Court recommendations earlier this month.
Cllr McGettigan, who has attended pickets at Shannon fire station said, “I have been out on the ground with our retained firefighters and speaking with them. The conditions they work under are totally unacceptable. They are constantly on call due to being chronically short staffed. They can’t even have a proper homelife because they could be called away at any moment, so they can’t be alone with their children for example, because they wouldn’t be able to respond without abandoning them.
The crisis of staff retention and recruitment is endangering the lives of the public and firefighters who have to respond to calls without the proper support. The margin by which the firefighters rejected the Labour Court recommendations should have been a clear sign of how serious this crisis is and how inadequate the official response has been”.
“The retention pay is so low that some firefighters have a second job, but this is very difficult because they need to be able to leave at any moment to respond to a callout. As a result, many firefighters rely on jobseekers benefit to make ends meet- while they risk their lives for us! It’s disgraceful. It was announced last week that these jobseekers benefit payments may be suspended for the duration of the dispute. They were promised by a government TD earlier this month that this would not happen. The promise was made in writing in correspondence I have seen”.
“Local management need to step up as well. Proposed SIPTU protocols to ensure adequate cover during the dispute have been rejected. This means emergency calls may not be answered or information may not be passed on, and the three pump response may not be rolled out. Shannon is a two pump station so would require support of an engine from another station to ensure a proper response to an emergency. The lack of this response will further endanger members of the public and firefighters alike.
Both parties need to sit around the table and resolve the current impasse. The government should implement the recommendations of their own report on the future of the service to end the crisis of recruitment and retention which is crippling it. In the absence of any meaningful action from government, further escalation of the industrial action is the only option for firefighters.