PROVISIONS SHOULD be put in place to ensure to prevent the safety of the public being put at risk in the event of industrial action by Retained Fire Services firefighters, it has been warned.

Siptu members employed as Retained Fire Services firefighters by local authorities will begin a campaign of industrial action on Tuesday 6 June.

Siptu said earlier this month that the dispute is a result of “the failure of management to adequately address a worsening recruitment and retention crisis in the service”.

During the campaign of industrial action, members are due to restrict their work to only responding to emergency calls.

“This will involve non-cooperation with training, drills and radio calls through the emergency centres being replaced by the use of mobile calls to fire service management,” Siptu sector organiser Brendan O’Brien said. 

It’s understood that in a letter to Siptu, the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) warned that discussions at local level regarding the industrial action should see provisions put in place for where “interruption or cessation could endanger life” and that “the safety of the public will not be put at risk”. 

It’s also understood that the LGMA has warned that the provision of emergency services will be required on humanitarian grounds.

In the letter, it’s understood that the LGMA said it is accepted that where members are required to attend calls in the above circumstances, normal remuneration will apply. 

In response to the letter, Siptu’s Brendan O’Brien wrote to the LGMA and said: “In relation to the engagements to date with our local strike committees, our officials have reported that those meetings have been characterised by senior fire management arriving with little or no preparation to meet their obligations under the ‘Code of Practice on Dispute Procedures (including in Essential Services)’.”

O’Brien said “this raises concerns in relation to the value of those engagements”. 

The National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management (NDFEM) is working with the LGMA and local authorities to “prepare for work-to-rule/strike action”. 

The NDFEM has developed guidance to “underpin the development of a contingency plan in each local authority to ensure emergency cover for all emergencies upon commencement of industrial action”. 

This guidance is based on the 1992 Code of Practice for Industrial Disputes.

In his letter to the LGMA, O’Brien said Siptu is aware of a draft guide to industrial disputes in the fire service prepared by the NDFEM which is “currently circulating”. 

O’Brien said the document includes a “number of assertions which have not been agreed with the unions, particularly around minimum crewing levels and pre-determined attendance”. 

He said the document should be “amended accordingly”.

Strike escalation

A series of rolling work stoppages are scheduled to commence on 13 June with the action set to escalate to an all-out strike on 20 June “if the dispute has not been resolved”, O’Brien warned in a statement earlier this month. 

“Almost 2,000 Retained Fire Service members are organised in Siptu across 200 fire stations nationally. They are required to provide 24/7 emergency response and restrict their movement, at all times while on call, to within typically five minutes travel time of their fire station,” he said. 

“Many firefighters are unable to take their leave entitlements due to staff shortages and they have also seen their incomes drastically reduced due to reductions in call outs over the last number of years and other restrictions imposed by the fire service.”

A Siptu negotiating committee earlier this month “attended talks with management on resolving the recruitment and retention crisis in the service”, Siptu public administration and community division organiser Karan O’Loughlin said. 

However, the committee “considered that proposals presented to it fell short of the minimum required to address the issue”, she said. 

“The proposals also fall short of recommendations from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in relation to addressing structured pay in the service,” she added.