Submitted by SWFBU on
Update:
Important update on "private & casual rescue contracts"issue (see link): We have just been informed that following the campaign by the FBU the "trading wing" of the Service will not be providing this privatised service. During conversations...with the Service the "client" cited the "adverse publicity" that had resulted from the plan. We hope now that the Service has learned not to try and achieve a profit by getting Firefighters to work "on the side" and "on the cheap"!! If the Service had engaged with the FBU at the outset (instead of keeping the proposal secret from the Union) and set aside any plans for "casual contracts", then a proper and professional solution could have been reached!
“The FBU has slammed Devon & Somerset Fire Service for using a "trading" company in a plan to provide privatised water rescue capability during building works on the River Parrot in Somerset. The plan would see the Service use an internal trading company to ask Firefighters to provide the cover "on the side" with no proper contract, no sick pay, no pension provision and wholly inadequate accident & injury provision. The FBU has condemned the plan and demanded that the cover is provided by the publicly accountable Fire & Rescue Service using Firefighters who are protected by their agreed contracts and working conditions, not a "private wing" trying to achieve a profit by casualising Firefighters terms & conditions, see a BBC report here:”
