Firefighters set to go on national strike

PART-time firefighters are voting overwhelmingly for a national strike.

All parts of the country, especially rural areas, will be affected when 1,900 firefighters go 'off call' by leaving their beepers in local fire stations.

With counting of a nationwide ballot almost complete, a clear majority are in favour of strike action.

SIPTU national industrial secretary Matt Merrigan said it was certain part-time firefighters would reject a Labour Court recommendation and vote for industrial action.

"Not all the ballot papers have been counted yet but that's what it looks like from the results to date," Mr Merrigan said.

There are 1,100 full-time firefighters who will not take part in the action. However, 1,900 part-time fire firefighters provide the majority of fire service coverage around the country. The National Retained Firefighters Association said the implications for fire safety would be serious.

"Once those beepers are handed in, there will be no turnout from fire stations," said the association chairman John Gavigan. "It's sad that it's come to this but the local authorities are not negotiating. They're sticking their head in the sand and hoping that the problem will go away."

The date of the industrial action has not been finalised, but union officials say it will take place either in the next two or three weeks.

The board which represents the local authorities said it would not comment until it was informed of a strike officially. "We cannot talk about contingency plans until we've been told by the union about a strike," Eamon Hunt of the Local Government Management Services Board said.

The dispute centres on two issues, the mandatory retirement age of 55 for firefighters and the size of their retirement payment. "It's a tough slog and we're looking for credit where credit is due," said Mr Gavigan. "I was up this morning at 1am to put out a hay shed fire and didn't get back until 4am. The general public don't know about us and they don't care as long as we turn up to put out the fires."

The Labour Court recommended the use of an independent review group to report on the dispute within 12 months.

This was accepted by the local authorities but has been rejected by SIPTU. The union group said retained firefighters were the mainstay of the service and needed to be looked after, as did the National Retained Firefighters Association.