'We will stay at this as long as it takes' – No end in site for firefighters strike

ONGOING strike action at all 12 of Mayo’s fire stations shows no sign of stopping, according to a spokesman for the county’s retained firefighters.

Westport-based retained firefighter Tom Ketterick told The Mayo News that firefighters will continue to strike ‘as long as it takes’ to obtain a satisfactory pay increase and better working commitments.

At present, retained firefighters across Mayo are only responding to life-threatening situations.

This follows the rejection of a deal that would see retained firefighter’s ‘retainer’ payment rise by between 24 and 32 percent.

The deal came on foot of a Labour Court recommendation, which also recommended adding 400 more personnel to the retained service, changes to premium payments and the introduction of community-based fire prevention programmes.

Defending the decision, Mr Ketterick said that extra income earned from responding to calls would not be considered by those seeking to obtain a mortgage.

Currently, retained firefighters earn €8,500 plus additional income per call. They must be within 2.5 kilometres of their station at all times except when taking annual leave.

“Whether you are on €11,000 for a new entrant or €8,000 it doesn’t really matter that much. Nobody is going to take up that job because it doesn’t compete with anything else out there and there’s no guarantee of any more income,” said Mr Ketterick, who is chairman of the National Association of Retained Firefighters (NRFA) national negotiating team.

Mr Ketterick said that proposals which had been put forward by union representatives regarding fixed pay had been rejected.

He said that strike action would escalate further if their demands were not met.

As of Friday July 28, the fire service in Mayo has responded to five calls in the Westport area alone since the strike action began, many involving crews from two or three stations.

Crew from the Westport station were also called to assist crew in Clifden during one call.

Similarly, crew from Tubbercurry and Swinford assisted the Charlestown service while crew in Crossmolina and Enniscrone were called to assist the Ballina crew with another call.

At present, some stations in other counties are operating so-called 50/50 strike action by remaining fully closed 50 percent of the time.

Mr Ketterick refused to rule out similar actions being taken in Mayo.

“At the moment the relationship between management and firefighters has been good enough to make it work and it has been working for the first couple of days of the strike action,” he said.

Mr Ketterick said that firefighters remained ‘determined to keep the public safe and attend all life-threatening calls’.

“We’ll have to continue to protect the public. The public has been very good to us, and they’ve been very good to us while on picket line and strike, very supportive of us and very good to us while doing our job too, over the years,” he said.

“Every time we turn up in their homes in some of the worst times of their life they’ve been very receptive to us and very supportive of the service. The public has been a really strong ally in our dispute.

“It’s very difficult to strike and do your job at the same time but we’re an emergency service and we have to continue to respond to any life-threatening calls or any possible life-threatening calls.”

The ongoing dispute between retained firefighters and the Department of Housing & Local Government has been raised in the European Parliament by MEP Maria Walsh, who has called for minimum pay and conditions for firefighters across the EU.

Aontú’s Mayo representative Paul Lawless has also called for a resolution to the dispute, claiming that Mayo’s fire service is ‘on its knees’.

“The big issue for the retained fire service is the extremely low base payment and the dilution of duties which has ultimately resulted in huge pay cuts. In Mayo the retained fire service has seen the removal of duties such as: oil spill, fallen trees, road cleaning etc. All of these duties have been taken away from the retained fire service,” said the Knock-based secondary school teacher.

“There are a number of retirements due in Mayo in the coming months. What young person will take up a position in the retained fire service? What young person will be able to secure a mortgage on a baseline figure of just €8,500 annually? You wouldn’t get a car loan on that.”

Mr Lawless added that ongoing issues with recruitment and retention would have ‘a devastating effect on the fire service provision in the county’.

“Mayo is 100 percent reliant on retained firefighters as there are no full-time fire stations in the county. It is fundamentally important to every community in Mayo to protect the future of the retained fire service,” he stated.