Firefighter strikes may force CLEANERS and office staff to be deployed to help tackle blazes
A POSSIBLE strike by firefighters could mean cleaners and office staff are brought in to help respond to emergency calls.
A ballot by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) to take national industrial action is due to close tomorrow with the result expected to be announced later in the day.
Union bosses are confident that the threshold needed to trigger a strike will be met.
Should its members vote yes, it will be the first time firefighters have taken industrial action since 2003.
They would join a growing band of public sector employees to stage a walk out which includes teachers, train drivers and ambulance workers.
Fire services have been training their office staff as back-up to help out during an emergency, reports say.
These could include employees working as cleaners, HR staff, building safety work and finance.
The chairman of the National Fire Chiefs, Mark Hardingham, said they would train “anyone else who is prepared to step forward”.
He told The Daily Telegraph: “These are members of the fire and rescue service who might not be trained firefighters but can be trained up to provide basic level of cover.
“The fire service would still carry the liability, so you can’t just take anyone. They need a basic level of fitness, and they need to pass a health assessment.
“There is a programme of training lasting on average two weeks, and not everyone will pass that. A lot of services are already doing this now.”
Mr Hardingham added the service had also created “contingency crews” by hiring temporary staff from private companies to provide cover on any strike days.
Those third-party providers who train firefighters could also “come in to provide cover”.
Another possibility is that the Army could be brought in to provide back-up, as they did for the Border Force strikes, but the military’s top brass have already condemned this, saying soldiers were being treated as “spare capacity”.
The chief of defence staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, said last month that forces should focus on their “primary role” and could not be the “ultimate backstop for unrest”.
He said: “We’re not spare capacity, we’re busy and we’re doing lots of things on behalf of the nation.
“We’ve got to focus on our primary role. It would be slightly perilous to rely on defence to be doing all of these things as the ultimate backstop.”
Firefighters have seen earnings fall by 12 per cent in real terms, equating to around £4,000, according to the FBU.
The union rejected a five per cent pay offer in November and opened a strike ballot on December 5.
The FBU’s general secretary Matt Wrack said: “Firefighters have faced a sustained attack on pay for more than a decade, with average pay falling by about £4,000 in real terms.
“Our members face hazardous situations every day, and sometimes risk their health to do the job.
“Facing double-digit inflation and rocketing energy bills, they are now being told to put up with an even bigger real terms pay cut. Meanwhile, the UK is home to record number of billionaires.
“People join the fire service because they want to help people and serve their community.
“We have been pushed to the point of balloting by a government that is refusing to listen.”
In 2021, a watchdog recommended that firefighters should be stripped of their right to strike.
Sir Tom Winsor, the then chief inspector for fire and police services, said the public was not being served as well as they should be because of “outdated” and “restrictive” union practices.
In his annual report he said: “It is unarguable that firefighters deserve fair pay; everyone does. But the continued threat of industrial action doesn’t help anyone, least of all the public.
“Many services have told us that the threat can significantly adversely affect their ability to respond to incidents and that it is costly for them to provide contingency arrangements, particularly when, in some cases, resources are already scarce.”
The news comes as widespread strike action is set to take place in February.
The Royal College of Nursing will hold industrial action on February 6 and 7 over a dispute about pay and conditions.
February 9 will see physiotherapists from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy on strike.
Bus drivers from London services Abellio will walk out from February 1 to 3.
Adding further transport chaos, train workers will also be striking on February 1 and 3.
Education will also be impacted by striking teachers in England and Wales.
Some 100,000 civil servants from 124 government departments, who are members of the Public and Commercial Services union, will also go on strike over their dispute about pay, jobs and conditions.
