Fire Brigades Union criticises suggestion of 'inevitable' service cuts
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has hit out at Tayside Fire and Rescue Board convener Ken Lyall suggesting frontline cuts would be "inevitable" if Scotland's eight fire services merged.
- By Geraldine McKelvie
- Published in the Courier : 03.11.10
- Published online : 03.11.10 @ 01.27pm
Scottish secretary John Duffy said on Tuesday the FBU was "very capable of drawing its own conclusions" on the implications of a merger after Mr Lyall said anyone who believed such measures could be avoided was "naive in the extreme."
However, Mr Duffy insisted the FBU was lobbying for the merger to come into force as soon as possible as it believed this was the best way to ensure the safety of the Scottish public in the face of crippling financial pressure.
He said any delay would "exacerbate the damage already being done" — despite the conveners' belief that any changes should be phased over several years.
Mr Duffy said, "It is nice to know Councillor Lyall is concerned about the well being of the FBU but the reason we are looking at a restructure is to avoid making frontline cuts. Something has got to give and, looking long-term, if we merge now, we could avoid further cuts in the future.
"At the moment, we have eight headquarters and — absolutely no disrespect to them — are paying the salaries of eight chief fire officers. We could cut a lot of costs if we reduced this to just one service, without having to reduce the number of fire engines.
Balmossie's example
"The perfect example is Balmossie fire station in Dundee. Would you rather have a fire station with fully trained firefighters ready to go 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or a fire service headquarters? If I lived in the area, I know what I would choose."
He insisted he was "somewhat surprised" at Mr Lyall's claim that conveners were not kept fully informed of potential changes, which are supported by both the current SNP administration and Scottish Labour Party.
He said the movement towards a Scotland-wide brigade was the "direct result" of a paper prepared by the eight fire board conveners for Scottish ministers, though he admitted "the main difference of opinion" appeared to concern "the timing of changes."
Mr Lyall said his main concerns were how long a single service would take to establish and how many years it would operate before becoming cost-effective.
09.46pm - 09.03.2011 joshy - glasgow, uk Report This
John Duffy is a muppet who is only interested in his own political power and even he can be so stupid as to think that 8 chief fire officers jobs will make a dent in the money allegedly required to be saved . The FBU are selling us down the river again! We just waste our money on their fees.
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