Support our firefighters, support our Royal Mail, support our nurses, doctors, teachers and all our public sector workers before this Tory government erode OUR services ! A blog by a fireman below argue against this if you can ? Why I’m going on strike. I don’t write on my blog often, and I rarely write about work for fear of my words being used against me, but I must put down my reasoning behind taking strike action so people who know me, but know little about my job can understand. I’m going on strike over our pension scheme. The first period of action is Wednesday the 25th September, 1200-1600. I have been a Firefighter for 10 years next year, and have been on strike once before in 2005. That dispute was about job cuts, and a worsened service to the public. Someone explained their thoughts to me on The Fire Service at that time “It doesn’t belong to the Chief Fire Officer, or the Politicians, or even The Firefighters. We look after it while we are here, and it’s our responsibility to make sure it’s as good as it was when we took it over, if not better”. Those words have always stuck with me, and I think 60 year-old Firefighters would be a much worse service to the public. I work with plenty of guys around 50, and can see how it’s getting harder for them to deal with the physical demands of their job. What they have to do, in a compartment fire especially, is extremely arduous. How many 60 year olds do you know who you’d like to rescue you from a house fire? I know some can do it, but the vast majority (and the evidence is there to back this up) will struggle as they get near retirement. My employer provides no fitness equipment; there is no requirement to do physical exercise when you are at work. I imagine in the Military those things exist? All we have is space (at some stations) given for us to provide our own equipment. We even have to pay ourselves to have it maintained and insured. The argument levelled at us is that we must keep fit on our days off. The beauty of that is that if we are injured, say running, and cannot work, because it is not an ‘in-service’ injury we face the prospect of no pension until later in life and dismissal. Much cheaper! When I joined the Fire Service in 2004 I joined the 1992 Pension Scheme. It costs me over £300 a month and I always knew it was an 11% contribution and would take me 30 years to fill up my pension pot. So I knew I’d reach 58 and retire. Then, in 2005, our pension scheme changed. The Government decided the scheme was not affordable, and set up a new 8%, 40 year scheme, but only for new entrants. This scheme was established for the long-term affordability of Fire Service Pensions. The retirement age was set at 60. But my Union did not take action against the scheme, because it did not affect any of its members. Because everyone that was already a Firefighter was ‘ring-fenced’ there was no legitimate dispute. A Union can only represent its members. The difference this time is not everyone is ring-fenced. The Government have gambled that if they protect the Firefighters nearing retirement, they would not vote to strike. They gambled that the older guys would not care about the younger ones. But I’m delighted they do. 80% who voted, voted yes. Maybe our Political leaders thought we held greed in as high esteem as they do? They didn’t take into account how we in The Fire Service try to look after each other, how it is in our nature to stick together and protect the vulnerable in society. We stand by to help those in need, including our own. I disagree with the encouragement of greed, and that big multi-national organisations need to pay less tax for the greater good. But my point? Why do I think it’s OK to strike? Well, because in 2005 a pension scheme was launched, designed to fix the Fire Service pensions for the long-term. In 2008, greed caused the Banking Crisis, and all of a sudden our 3 year-old scheme isn’t actually affordable now. We need a new scheme much more expensive to the individual to replace it. About 13% contributions and 40 years. Tens of thousands of pounds more for each person paying into the scheme, to get less out at the end of it. Can you see why I and my colleagues feel a little hard done by? If you have time, watch last night’s Panorama, (Click here) which shows how The Government isn’t cracking down on big business tax-avoidance, it’s actually helping it. We can’t have the best greedy people leaving the country now can we? Where would we be without them? You might not agree with me, but if you see a picket line outside a Fire Station, please remember we took action because we feel we are paying more than our fair share, and that we are losing money each time we do. Maybe it’s because we’re greedy, but then aren’t our Government rather happy to encourage greed in individuals? Or is that only for some of us? The ones with enough money as it is? 17th September 2013
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 11:57:26 +0000
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