Roscrea retained firefighters awaiting talks outcome after postponing all out strike

An all out strike by the retained firefighters of Roscrea Fire Station, which was due to take place on Tuesday June 20th, has been postponed this week following seven hours of talks in the Labour Court.

Following the talks the Labour Court said it believes there are grounds for a formal hearing, which will take place next Monday.

Industrial action is to be de-escalated in all Fire Stations around the country, including Roscrea Fire Station, to "non-cooperation" until then.

"The Labour Court has come to the conclusion that it will intervene and it can intervene," said Siptu Division Organiser Karan O'Loughlin. "It is going to use its statutory powers to invite the parties to a hearing next Monday morning. It will be a formal hearing of the court next Monday morning and in order to facilitate this, our negotiating committee have agreed to continue the suspension of the strike and to de-escalate the industrial action to a lower level."

She pointed out that the resolution to this dispute will be complex and difficult. "Our members will not settle for anything other than an agreement which safeguards the functioning of this vital emergency service into the future."

The eleven retained firefighters in Roscrea joined their colleagues around the country last week when they refused to undertake certain duties, including paperwork, drills and training.
On Friday June 16, the SIPTU members in Roscrea mounted pickets outside their fire station to draw attention to their plight. They said they were ready to respond to any emergency calls, but they won't be continuing with paperwork and drills. They will be continuing this policy of "non-cooperation" while the talks in the Labour Court are underway.
The Roscrea men pointed out that the starting pay for a retained firefighter is €8,500 per annum and for this the firefighter is expected to be on call 24/7. He/she must live within a radius of two and half kilometres of the fire station. Pay, recruitment and retention are the overriding issues. The firefighters pointed out that there is very little incentive for new firefighters to join the service in its present state.

Deputy Alan Kelly called on the Government to provide the necessary funding to sustain Tipperary’s retained fire services now and into the future.

Half of the 12 fire stations in Tipperary closed on Friday the 16th as part of the rolling nationwide dispute and the other six closed on Saturday the 17th. 

Deputy Kelly said firefighters put their lives at risk for very little reward.

“Retained firefighters provide critical services. They are pillars of our community and often put themselves in harm's way. The way they are being treated is not acceptable. They have to live very close to the fire station. They also have to be on call for 48 hours, 48 weeks of the year."

The Deputy said it’s time the Government actually values the crucial work that firefighters carry out in Tipperary and beyond, adding that there has been no adjustment in their pay structures for 20 years.

Deputy Kelly says the current situation is simply not good enough.

“Their terms and conditions of employment simply are not acceptable and the 2,000 retained firefighters in Ireland having to go on strike is a national disgrace. The Government needs to intervene and resolve this issue once and for all.”

Across the border in County Offaly Jimmy Beatty of Tullamore Fire Station pointed out that there is an historical issue in Offaly "going back a number of years when three fire stations in Offaly closed and the number of stations went from 8 down to 5. Issues have been stemming since then with recruitment." He said the retained members are looking for an increase in their remuneration and more down time to spend with their families.

Retained firefighters carry pagers. ''When it goes off," said Jimmy, "we respond to the pager. We have to be at the fire station within 5 to 10 minutes. We have to be on the road almost a minute or two after that. It places an onus on us to be around the town the whole time. This puts pressure on our families as we are often not able to attend certain family occasions.''
  Referring to the low pay, he added, ''In this day and age with the price of property, where is a new recruit going to get a house within the radius of the fire station?''
  He explained that members get paid for a call out but added that in a rural area that may be as low as 30 to 40 calls per year.