Highly skilled and worth every penny

Bill Spiers

"Modernisation." Great word isn't it? Who could possibly object to anything being "modernised?"

Anyone who has actually read what the Bain Report proposes for the fire service, that's who. Sir George's scheme, which the Government has said must be adopted without alteration, would result in the shedding of 4,500 jobs in the fire service. Can anyone seriously believe that this version of "modernisation" would result in an improved fire service? If they do, they should immediately disqualify themselves from having anything to do with fire safety in our country.

The Scottish Trades Union Congress stands 100% behind the Fire Brigades Union and the firefighters and emergency control staff that they represent. We believe that when they say that firefighters are worth £30,000 a year they are right.

In the world of the 21st Century, the men and women who provide our fire service need to be highly skilled, and they are. Their skills and judgment are vital for the safety of our homes, and the places we work.

Whether they are dealing with a chip pan fire, a chemical plant fire, a terrorist incident or a road accident they are in the front line. Their skills and their judgment, alongside their courage, so often mean the difference between life and death for human beings, and between damage and destruction for property.

And of course, the FBU have been to the fore in putting forward plans for the fire service that would result in real improvements rather than cost-cutting: not least by making life before property the central priority of all fire service operations. Perhaps that is why they have attracted such hostility form some quarters.

If the firefighters were to be forced to accept the Government's terms, we would all lose, not just FBU members. A diminished and demotivated fire service is in the interests of no-one, which is why the STUC is urging everyone to contact their councillors, MSPs and MPs to press them to agree to justice for the FBU and its members.

One last thought. the Government claims that because there are more applicants for every firefighters job than there are jobs available, there is no need to pay them more than £21,000 a year. Given that there are always more candidates in elections than there are seats available would they apply that logic to their own salaries of £60,000 plus allowances? Eh ... judge for yourself

This article was first published in Hot News, the newspaper of the FBU in Scotland