• This topic has 31 replies, 21 voices, and was last updated 9 years ago by dazh.
Viewing 32 posts - 1 through 32 (of 32 total)
  • PSA. Stay safe tomorrow
  • Lummox
    Full Member

    Firefighters will be striking again as part of the ongoing pensions dispute.

    Stepping up a level now

    ‘A 24-hour strike — the longest yet in the three-year campaign — will take place from 9am on Thursday 12 June, with another set for 10am-5pm on Saturday 21 June’

    Fire brigade union page

    tomhoward
    Full Member

    Balls.

    *sulks, whilst putting the aerosol, matches, moonshine and supersoaker, grudgingly, back in the ‘special playtime box’*

    Lummox
    Full Member

    Didn’t say you shouldn’t play with them, just be more carefull.

    The ‘resilience’ crews are not all they’re made out to be.

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    cynic-al
    Free Member

    Are they striking from their other jobs on the side too?

    midlifecrashes
    Full Member

    *Unplugs dishwasher with bundle of live wires hanging out the front*

    Lummox
    Full Member

    Are they striking from their other jobs?!

    Is that a serious question or one just designed to provoke?

    I feel the latter

    winston
    Free Member

    In the NFPS employees pay 8.5% of salaries and employers pay about 11.8%.

    In the NFPS there is a 2/3rds final-salary pension after 40 years.

    Accrual is at a constant rate of 1/60th all the way through and a normal retirement age of 60 years. Members can in theory accrue a 45/60ths pension after 45 years.

    Yeah, I can see why they would be striking over that

    *shakes head and wanders back to the real world (private sector) where most of us will be working till we are 70 for a DC pension with a shocking annuity rate*

    bruneep
    Full Member

    Are they striking from their other jobs on the side too?

    bravo 🙄

    I pay taxes on my other earnings you are welcome to view my accounts via companies house anytime you wish. I am doing this to pay my sons Uni education, my take home wages have risen £67 since 2007.

    2007 pay slip take home £1,482.21

    2014 pay slip take home £1,549.53

    However the dispute is not about wages it is about pension changes. Currently paying 14.7% of my pay, in excess of £400 a month towards my pension.

    BillMC
    Full Member

    Winston have you never thought about joining a union? In the real world that is how you make progress not going in for this I’m a victim, race to the bottom nonsense. Check out the concept of ‘wages drift’.

    hora
    Free Member

    Bruneep no offence but do you do cleaning at a firestation, part time or have csa deductions?

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    He wishes hora.

    A little more responsibility than that….

    firestarter
    Free Member

    Hora id say her was 2 ranks above me as I clear over 200 a month less.

    For the unsupportive out there. My situation may make you think. It may not tho. Some are worse off than me some better

    Im gonna have to pay 400 a month for an extra 8 years to get less. But the big killer blow is if I fail a fitness test that didnt exist when I joined 8 years after I should have retired then 50%; of my accrued pension is taken off me and im sacked. My pension is then put in holding til state pension age and index linking is removed.

    Not at all what I signed up for . And no doubt if it weren’t the gov doing it it would be illegal or at least mis sold.

    Ive 17 years in the scheme and no protection as I was too young to qualify in 2012 when they thought the new scheme up

    As for side jobs I couldn’t earn enough on the side to make it worth while after covering childcare and I shouldn’t have to work 2 jobs. Gov are getting an 11% rise to ensure they no longer have to ??

    hora
    Free Member

    Seriously?

    I know someone on 30k and hes a ‘grunt’ fireman?!

    You are doing shiftwork in a potentially dangerous job for 24k!?!!!

    You should be paid more. But then, you already know that. **** ell Teachers moan don’t they and they are the ones with the long bloody holidays.

    Lummox
    Full Member

    The question posed about cleaning stations and doing maintenance.

    Yes we do that, it’s known as routines.
    The fire service has seen overwhelming modernization in the last 10 years, were more efficient than any other blue light service and often we’re used as an example of how to do it.
    But this isn’t about working routines, efficiencies or wages.

    It’s about joining a career pension scheme being promised one thing, doing your part and then Having the contract ripped up halfway through your career because it doesn’t suit them anymore.

    As stated retirement age with the conditions we’ll now have to meet will not be possible for a large percentage, leading to dismissal on capability grounds. This means a huge reduction in pension and it’s deferred to the national pension age.

    There are no ‘back room’ jobs for us to move too.

    Ask the police what they think of the settlement they got with their pensions.

    monkeysfeet
    Free Member

    17yrs as a bobby, I have seen first hand the work of the Fire and Rescue service, you guys do brilliant work. As has been said the fire service has had some massive changes over the last 10 yrs.The pension situation is in a terrible mess, I too have lost the pension I was promised when I joined 🙁
    At least you guys can strike. I have never ever seen moral as low in ALL emergency services.

    Drac
    Full Member

    I can see where they’re coming from with the pension changes being brought in even for those with many years service, same has happened to me. However a essential service should never strike, they should work to rule but never strike.

    were more efficient than any other blue light service and often we’re used as an example of how to do it.

    It’s difficult for the others to do it as their workload is increasing year on year and the amount calls received compared to Fire Service shows how the Fire Service can be efficient, the workload just doesn’t come close.

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    We’ve covered the argument that on a night shift there are few fires and you can sleep. A number of firemen have other sideline jobs.

    @lummox its not that the pension scheme doesn’t suit them, it’s not affordable. Do the calculations based on length of service, final salary, retirement age. I do believe very strongly that a contractual obligation is that, if you are enrolled in a scheme that’s binding. However, whilst I haven’t seen the contracts I strongly suspect there is a lot of wiggle room in them legally for the terms to be changed.

    skeetsgb
    Free Member

    should **** them all off and re employ with people who want to work.

    if you dont like the job, get another !!

    some people dont no how lucky they are.

    mooman
    Free Member

    24k a year can’t be correct?
    Very surprised if that’s true.
    Unless that’s for his 2nd job??

    Best of luck to those in the fire service. Push for all they can get I say. Just a shame others can’t do the same.

    monkeysfeet
    Free Member

    We’ve covered the argument that on a night shift there are few fires and you can sleep. A number of firemen have other sideline jobs.

    @lummox its not that the pension scheme doesn’t suit them, it’s not affordable. Do the calculations based on length of service, final salary, retirement age. I do believe very strongly that a contractual obligation is that, if you are enrolled in a scheme that’s binding. However, whilst I haven’t seen the contracts I strongly suspect there is a lot of wiggle room in them legally for the terms to be changed.

    Hit the nail on the head there. The issue is not that the pensions are changing, but that those who signed up to a certain product (pension) are now having that taken away. If you join, you sign up for whatever pay/ pension scheme is being offered. If you signed up with a 25 yr mortgage fixed for that time, then halfway through the provider suddenly decided that you can no longer have that product as it was costing the provider too much, and they changed it, would you be happy?

    dazh
    Full Member

    should **** them all off and re employ with people who want to work.

    …and roll back 200 years of reform designed to protect workers and return to a pre-victorian economy. Progress!

    some people dont no how lucky they are.

    Sounds to me that statement is borne of envy. If so, stop criticising others for standing up for themselves, and maybe think about how you can do the same?

    GHill
    Full Member

    A dangerous, physically demanding job that is going to be very difficult as people get older. A good, early pension seems fair to me. I appreciate the work they do.

    hora
    Free Member

    A dangerous, physically demanding job that is going to be very difficult as people get older. A good, early pension seems fair to me. I appreciate the work they do.

    The people that could affect this are busy feathering their nests and finding ways to argue why their expenses are now legitimate.

    The only danger that they face is from choking on their expenses paid food in 1st class on the train to London.

    DT78
    Free Member

    This is a real tough one. I agree about not being happy (similar thing just happened to my pension…). But these days I think the concept of a job for life has gone, the idea of signing up for a single profession and then expecting to only do that and retire in (survivable) comfort no longer exists. It is likely I will be thrown on the scrap heap around my early 60s as I won’t be able to keep up with my younger peers. I’ll then probably have to go and work stacking shelves in tesco’s or something until my 70s when I can afford to retire. It really sucks but it is a likely outcome. I feel sorry for you guys, but it sucks for most people at the moment and alot of guys think you are in an enviable position. I know several people who tried to join the fire service and recruitment was always massively oversubscribed. If there is heavy demand for a role then it means they can pay you less because they can and will replace you.

    No advice other than, suck it up (I had to) or look for another job (I am…)

    firestarter
    Free Member

    Ive paid over 80k into my pot out of my wages to be told the contract is going to be rewritten. Why should I stand for that. Ive asked the fire minister for my contributions back but he said I cant have them. Bloody thieves

    dazh
    Full Member

    But these days I think the concept of a job for life has gone, the idea of signing up for a single profession and then expecting to only do that and retire in (survivable) comfort no longer exists.

    This sort of comment really depresses me. The only reason it’s true is because people have allowed it to become true. The ‘jobs for life’ and ‘gold-plated pensions’ that our elders enjoy(ed) are a direct result of organised labour and a political system which 50 years ago protected normal people from the avarice of the markets. It wasn’t an accident! The difference now is that those protections have been swept away in favour of further enriching the tiny few at the top, but instead of organising and opposing this, the majority instead point to those who are still attempting to stand up for themselves and shout ‘it’s not fair!’. You are directing your anger at the wrong people.

    yourmywifenow
    Free Member

    The fire service has seen overwhelming modernization in the last 10 years, were more efficient than any other blue light service and often we’re used as an example of how to do it

    You had me until that bit, anyone of the other emergency services could be just as efficient with the considerably lower call out rate that the fire service has.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Drac – Moderator

    However a essential service should never strike, they should work to rule but never strike.

    Counter- if you’re employing someone to do an essential service, you shouldn’t shit on them badly enough that they go on strike.

    Lummox
    Full Member

    For the record I am 14 years into my fire service career, I’m not
    Protected and I’m on the old scheme, I’m not on duty today but if I was I would be
    Taking part in the IA.

    The reason we have less calls today is
    In part due to the massive amount of work we’ve undertaken in fire safety work this includes road safety and lobbying for changes in building construction. Thereby proactively reducing fire deaths and
    Incidents. Kinda doing ourselves out of a job 😉

    DT78
    Free Member

    I’m in no way ‘angry’ at the fire service guys trying to stand up for their rights, I just think the ship has sailed. Lots of people, public and private sector are being shafted. There are being shafted not because it is personal but because companies /governments have been piss poorly managed for so long which have made relatively few very very rich but not left enough money in the pot to honour commitments

    It is a sign of the times, and I’m afraid I think strikes and unions are pointless as they will make no difference, the only real difference will be if all of a sudden firefighters started getting other jobs and leaving in their hundreds. Then they might have to look up as a retention issue. But, people are queing up to be firefighters and will take the worse conditions without batting an eyelid.

    I think the idea of retiring in your 60s and have good health to enjoy it will have evaporated when I get to that age.

    mudshark
    Free Member

    Even the state pension we’re all getting is not going to be as good as once expected. Not sure how many realise that those who contracted out of SERPS will end up significantly better off than those who didn’t

    http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/feb/10/poorer-state-pension-contracted-in

    dazh
    Full Member

    It is a sign of the times, and I’m afraid I think strikes and unions are pointless as they will make no difference

    But they do make a difference. Look at London Underground workers. I agree that they are in the minority, and that the tide of public opinion and political trends are against it, and I’m not saying the old battles of the past can be replayed. But there is still a battle to be had, the alternative is as you say lying back and accepting it.

    I think the idea of retiring in your 60s and have good health to enjoy it will have evaporated when I get to that age.

    Yes this is probably true. But it will be a result of people failing to stand up to fight against it. Employers, bosses and governments don’t hand out better wages, better conditions and better pensions out of the goodness of their own hearts.

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