British firefighters officially on strike !

scouse_dave · 11-13-2002, 03:27 PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2465745.stm

The first national firefighters' strike for 25 years is under way, with troops poised to provide basic fire and rescue cover.
The Fire Brigades Union failed to respond to a last-ditch plea by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to call off industrial action.

One hour before the start of the strike, Mr Prescott urged firefighters not to "put people and property at risk" in the row over pay.

The strike is scheduled to run for 48 hours until 1800 GMT on Friday.

basically, they want a 40% pay increase to make their pay around $45k/ year. at the moment, they're on a little over $30k/ year. i say "shut the fuck up and do your job". cheeky bastards. they knew the pay and conditions when they took the job on. the wages haven't suddenly dropped.

riding on the coat-tails of 9/11 if you ask me. bastards.

wangcomputers · 11-13-2002, 03:32 PM

they don't get no sympathy from me.
my firealarm went off recently and 2 fire-engines turned up.
They kept us waiting in the cold for nearly an hour checking the building out even though it was obvious some drunk broke the alarm.

(me)

beef curtains · 11-13-2002, 04:29 PM

if they wanna boost their pay they should go dance!!

Plenty of women will pay good money to see muscley firemen in their uniforms (or out!) shaking their shit

jenn · 11-13-2002, 04:47 PM

you know, i'm an EMT...and i know first hand how shitty the pay is. but it's fucking irresponsible to strike when you're in this line of duty. innocent people suffer because of it. that's bullshit. if you are so disgruntled about not making enough money then get a better job, work public service on a volunteer basis, like the rest of us do. even though they have substitude fire/ems personel, they don't have the training or exeperience that the regulars do. their response time is likely that of a rookie, and their training in war injury probably does very little with blunt trauma injuries, auto accidents, etc etc...and that's only from the EMT perspective. sending inexeperienced fire personel into burning buildings is pretty much the same thing as sending a pack of nine year olds in. you can get trained all you want in military firefighting...which is mostly outdoor forest-fire stuff... it's not the same as high-rise fires which scare the 10 year veterans out of their minds. jesus... greedy assholes are going to cost people their lives.

DeviousJ · 11-13-2002, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by scouse_dave
basically, they want a 40% pay increase to make their pay around $45k/ year. at the moment, they're on a little over $30k/ year. i say "shut the fuck up and do your job". cheeky bastards. they knew the pay and conditions when they took the job on. the wages haven't suddenly dropped.

riding on the coat-tails of 9/11 if you ask me. bastards.

I can see their point as far as increases go - other public sector workers have been getting wage boosts, and although they're just as valuable, they're not generally risking their lives. I think they should get an increase, but not such a large hike so quickly. So many people being awarded that much extra money is going to cause some budgeting problems. It's a shame they couldn't compromise - at least it didn't happen a week ago

noir cat · 11-13-2002, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by wangcomputers
some drunk broke the alarm.

(me)

God, Dan. What'd you do that for?

Quote:

Originally posted by So very sad about me
Plenty of women will pay good money to see muscley firemen shaking their shit

*Image of a turd hanging out their ass while they try and shake it out*. Gross, Shannon.

lawson · 11-13-2002, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by scouse_dave
[B they knew the pay and conditions when they took the job on. the wages haven't suddenly dropped.

riding on the coat-tails of 9/11 if you ask me. bastards. [/b]

yup. its not that often that they're really in a life threatening situation and they spend most of their time not working. I used to deliver pizza to the local fire department about everyday- 10 of em sittin around watching tv.

scouse_dave · 11-13-2002, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DeviousJ
I can see their point as far as increases go - other public sector workers have been getting wage boosts, and although they're just as valuable, they're not generally risking their lives. I think they should get an increase, but not such a large hike so quickly. So many people being awarded that much extra money is going to cause some budgeting problems. It's a shame they couldn't compromise - at least it didn't happen a week ago

well, exactly...

i'm not saying their wages should be frozen, an increase is perhaps only right. however
a) a 40% hike is ridiculous
b) essentially holding the country to ransom is not on

DOWN WITH THE FIREMEN

severin · 11-13-2002, 09:06 PM

you yould set their firestations on fire....i wonder what they would do then....(kidding) seriously, i think 40% is quite a bit to ask for, they should have settled for less (also i'm not that much into british fire fighting systems, so maybe i'm just speaking nonsense here). i think the austrian system is quite good though. we have loads of volunteer firefighters who put an incredible amount of their sparetime into firefighting, sometimes risking their jobs (because they have to get out of their job if the alarm goes off) and in the more rural parts of the country it is really a community effort. i mean children from the age of 9 are trained in the junior organisations. and it works really well

scouse_dave · 11-13-2002, 09:11 PM

from my experience, austria people are sound....

i enjoy that kind of system

wangcomputers · 11-15-2002, 07:09 AM

on the morning news they were interviewing one of the firemen.

his name was 'Jack Russell"

i found this quite amusing.

11-13-2002, 03:27 PM	#1
scouse_dave Minion of Satan Location: Manchester Posts: 5,089	British firefighters officially on strike ! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2465745.stm The first national firefighters' strike for 25 years is under way, with troops poised to provide basic fire and rescue cover. The Fire Brigades Union failed to respond to a last-ditch plea by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to call off industrial action. One hour before the start of the strike, Mr Prescott urged firefighters not to "put people and property at risk" in the row over pay. The strike is scheduled to run for 48 hours until 1800 GMT on Friday. basically, they want a 40% pay increase to make their pay around $45k/ year. at the moment, they're on a little over $30k/ year. i say "shut the fuck up and do your job". cheeky bastards. they knew the pay and conditions when they took the job on. the wages haven't suddenly dropped. riding on the coat-tails of 9/11 if you ask me. bastards.

11-13-2002, 04:29 PM	#3
beef curtains Immortal Location: I like me so much better when you're naked Posts: 21,752	if they wanna boost their pay they should go dance!! Plenty of women will pay good money to see muscley firemen in their uniforms (or out!) shaking their shit __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

11-13-2002, 09:06 PM	#9
severin no more than sympathy Location: lying on the floor Posts: 14,826	you yould set their firestations on fire....i wonder what they would do then....(kidding) seriously, i think 40% is quite a bit to ask for, they should have settled for less (also i'm not that much into british fire fighting systems, so maybe i'm just speaking nonsense here). i think the austrian system is quite good though. we have loads of volunteer firefighters who put an incredible amount of their sparetime into firefighting, sometimes risking their jobs (because they have to get out of their job if the alarm goes off) and in the more rural parts of the country it is really a community effort. i mean children from the age of 9 are trained in the junior organisations. and it works really well __________________ i once told a To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. that nothing really ends

11-13-2002, 03:32 PM	#2
wangcomputers Apocalyptic Poster Location: UK Posts: 4,058	they don't get no sympathy from me. my firealarm went off recently and 2 fire-engines turned up. They kept us waiting in the cold for nearly an hour checking the building out even though it was obvious some drunk broke the alarm. (me)

11-13-2002, 04:47 PM	#4
jenn Minion of Satan Location: new york Posts: 6,325	you know, i'm an EMT...and i know first hand how shitty the pay is. but it's fucking irresponsible to strike when you're in this line of duty. innocent people suffer because of it. that's bullshit. if you are so disgruntled about not making enough money then get a better job, work public service on a volunteer basis, like the rest of us do. even though they have substitude fire/ems personel, they don't have the training or exeperience that the regulars do. their response time is likely that of a rookie, and their training in war injury probably does very little with blunt trauma injuries, auto accidents, etc etc...and that's only from the EMT perspective. sending inexeperienced fire personel into burning buildings is pretty much the same thing as sending a pack of nine year olds in. you can get trained all you want in military firefighting...which is mostly outdoor forest-fire stuff... it's not the same as high-rise fires which scare the 10 year veterans out of their minds. jesus... greedy assholes are going to cost people their lives.

11-13-2002, 09:11 PM	#10
scouse_dave Minion of Satan Location: Manchester Posts: 5,089	from my experience, austria people are sound.... i enjoy that kind of system

11-15-2002, 07:09 AM	#11
wangcomputers Apocalyptic Poster Location: UK Posts: 4,058	on the morning news they were interviewing one of the firemen. his name was 'Jack Russell" i found this quite amusing.