No guarantee of outcome for firefighters at Labour Court, says SIPTU

Vivienne Clarke

SIPTU divisional organiser Karan O’Loughlin has said that retained firefighters are approaching today’s talks in the Labour Court with caution and that there was no guarantee of a constructive outcome.

“There are no pre-conditions on the talks from either side,” she told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

About 2,000 retained firefighters around the country are involved in the dispute, which centres on their demands for increases to their overall pay, improved recruitment and retention and their rostered time off.

The workers are technically part-time and are permitted to hold other jobs. In many cases, however, they are on call 24/7, except for when they are on annual leave. Retained firefighters are paid between €8,000 and €12,000 and then on the basis of attendance for training or call-outs.

“We want to get into the room to see if something can be worked out,” said Ms O’Loughlin.

However, she warned that if there is no outcome then that will create a more serious situation. Firefighters were “fed up” of being ignored. They had been ignored for 10 weeks while they were still doing their best for their communities, she said.

“It is up to the other side to engage constructively.”

Ms O’Loughlin explained that guaranteed pay was the main issue. The earnings of the majority of retained firefighters were precarious. Their earnings needed to “move from the precarious column to the guaranteed column.”