Chelmsford, Essex. 13 June, 2012. Essex firefighters lobby Fire Authority meeting in Chelmsford to protest at cuts. Later the Fire Brigades Union announced that the firefighters had voted in favour of strike action. Credit: HOT SHOTS / Alamy Live News
FIRE BRIGADES UNION IMMEDIATE RELEASE 12 JUNE PAYING MORE AND GETTING LESS – DON’T BE FOOLED BY THE CUTS ESSEX FIRE CREWS WARN PUBLIC AS STRIKE BALLOT RESULT IS AWAITED The next Fire Authority meeting is this Wednesday,13June, at 10am at County Hall, Chelmsford. Firefighters will be lobbying this meeting to try to resolve the 3 year dispute in Essex ahead of the strike ballot result in the afternoon of Wednesday 13 June. The law then requires at least seven days notice of any strike action after that date. Essex fire crews are warning the public not to be fooled by claims about fire service cuts. Essex fire crews says council tax has gone up while the public are waiting longer for a fire engine to arrive at a home fire. The budget for Essex Fire Service in 2008 was £ million and in 2012 it has been set at £ The precept (the amount Essex Council tax payers pay towards the Fire Service) has gone up from £ million in 2008 to £ in 2012. Combine this with the latest Government figures which show that the time it takes for Essex Fire Service to attend dwellings fires has gone up from in 2008 to in 2010/11 (latest data available). It is a simple rule of thumb for fire crews that a fire can double in size in a minute. The Fire Brigades Union warns the Essex public are bearing the brunt of cuts, waiting over a minute longer for a response when their house is on fire. The public in Essex pay more now in 2012 for their fire service than they did in 2008 but are receiving less of a Service. In the same period 2008-12, the reserves held by Essex Fire Service have gone from under £4m to just over £12m. Spending on projects such as the new IT system regularly going over budget. The number of frontline full time firefighters have been slashed by 100 since 2008, loss of one in eight. The number of retained ‘on call’ firefighters has dropped by 60 since 2008, a loss of one in ten. Further planned cuts would bring total l
Size: 3888px × 2592px
Location: Essex County Hall Chelmsford, Essex, England, UK
Photo credit: © HOT SHOTS / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 999, anthony, ballot, brigades, budget, cuts, david, ecfrs, efa, emergency, engines, fbu, fire, firefighters, fireman, firemen, hedley, jobs, johnson, police, protest, protesters, strike, union, vote
