Firefighters will be made compulsorily redundant for the first time in Greater Manchester as part of huge cutbacks.
Greater Manchester Fire Service is braced to lose between 25-40 per cent of its government funding as the coalition slashes public spending.
Union leaders say at least 150 firefighters’ jobs are likely to go across the region. They say they are prepared to take industrial action if compulsory redundancies are demanded.
Fire chiefs refused to confirm just how many jobs will be axed, but privately admitted that so many will have to go that they will be forced to make compulsory redundancies for the first time in the brigade’s 36 year history.
An internal document obtained by the M.E.N. reveals how bosses are preparing for swingeing cuts.
One proposal is to cut the number of firefighters on engines responding to 999 calls.
Five crew currently man the first pump sent to an incident, and four are on the second. That could be reduced to four officers on all engines – allowing for about 30 jobs to go. Bosses are also considering closing some of the service’s 41 stations.
The Strategic Intent Document says: "We will need to not only transform our frontline services, but also how we support those services, being prepared to challenge fundamentally who delivers what, at what price." Chancellor George Osborne will reveal the extent of the cuts facing fire services across the country in his October spending review.
The Greater Manchester brigade currently has an annual budget of £120m, made up of government funding and council tax. A 25 per cent reduction in Treasury cash over the next three years would mean nearly £19m being lost.
That would see scores of jobs going from a total workforce of 2,400, which includes 1,600 firefighters. More than 75 per cent of the brigade’s budget goes on wages. The service has already taken steps to reduce costs.
Thirty management posts are to be axed through retirement and natural wastage. In addition, a vacant assistant county fire officer post with a salary of £100,000 will not be filled.
It is understood bosses believe some – but not all – of the future job losses will be achieved through retirements and voluntary redundancies. Management and the FBU are due to begin talks today about how savings can be made.
County Fire Officer Steve McGuirk said: "Whilst there are a number of reviews being carried out on behalf of the government that could have significant implications for us, we have been preparing ourselves for their potential impact. The role of the service has changed significantly over the years, from one only seen by the public in emergencies, to one that now also plays a very visible and important part in all areas of public safety.
"We have proven that we can adapt and change as the public’s needs change, whilst keeping their safety our key priority and remaining a service that the public can depend on and be proud of. That ability to change as circumstances change will stand us in good stead as we face this uncertain future."
Peter Taylor, from the Fire Brigades Union, said: "We are happy to sit down with management and discuss ways of making savings without going down the path of compulsory redundancies. But we will not accept compulsory redundancies – if the management suggest that then our policy is to back the national FBU policy of reconvening a national conference of the FBU and balloting our members with a view to industrial action."
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I'm a big fan of all our emergency services, however the Fire Brigade are the laziest of the three main services, sorry folks but cuts were always inevitable.
The pain has got to be shared everywhere, no-one and nothing should be sacred & untouchable.
Labours legacy.
A victim of their own success unfortunately, their smoke alarm and fire prevention campaigns have been so good, they are hardly called out any more
Strike and show how essential you are by not being available to attend emergencies. Seems the way forward to me. FBU idiots have no idea about the real world. I suppose the Army will have to help out again as if they did not have enough on their plate at the moment.
No sympathy here for the Fire Brigade, most people don't actually think things through before posting, having been both a victim and first on the scene at a fire in the early hours of the morning the the first on the scene being during the last firemans strike, I feel that we can not cut this service this savagely. The fire I was involved in happened at about 3:00am, just think if the fire men would not have been on duty, but at home only doing call outs, I would not be typing this now the other fire, totally destroyed the property, it was lucky for the occupants that we had ladders and got them out, the firemen did actually leave the picket lines to get down to the fire but because it was relayed to the Army first it took twenty minutes for the Army to arrive and then a further 5 mins after they alerted the fire men.
How many lives will be lost if they have no night cover, but the cheap option of call out, most people have smoke alarms, but if the Fire Brigade don't arrive quickly other property can be damaged so pushing up the repair bills and then the insurance costs, which was the original purpose of the fire service to cut insurance pay outs, ironic.
Let us hope we do not have another Manchester Air disaster or a Woolworth's store type incident,as we will not have enough Firemen on duty to deal with it.
Let us hope some of the detractors on this site are never trapped in their cars on Motoways wondering why it is taking so long for the Fire Service to arrive to rescue them.
So it’s the turn of the Fire Service to get an article written about them by Neal Keeling that will produce negative comments from the people who believe his every word. Watch out as next week it will be the Ambulance or the Police.
nothing ever changes
We dont pay them for what they do, we pay them for what they may have to do!
God help us if we ever get a major incident.
Not forgetting the considerable contribution in saving peoples lives from the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy during the last National Fire Brigade strike..
Green uniform does not always mean soldier nowadays..
"however the Fire Brigade are the laziest of the three main services"
"They are now going to have to work hard just like the rest of the world does"
And how do you propose that they become less 'lazier' or more hard working? Go around doing a bit of proactive work? Start their own fires and then put them out? The fire brigade are a purely reactive element. They exist to fight fires and save peoples lives when in danger. If there are no fires or danger then they are waiting to work. Do you suggest that they become like the lifeboat service? Holding down normal day jobs and dropping them when a shout comes in? Great in a tiny village when they can reach the station in a couple of minutes. Not so great in an urban area when they could be fatally delayed in reaching the station.
Unfortunately there are some jobs in life where you HAVE to be paid to wait around. The fire brigade is one of them. They exist as a civilian fire and rescue service. That is what they DO. They don't make profit and they don't tout for business.
I know its galling for some people, seeing a Police car, or an Ambulance or a Fire engine, apparently doing nothing, but these are people employed for a specific purpose. They exist only to perform that function.
Go ahead and cut them. It will make fantastic story to tell your grandkids about how the rest of the family perished in an house fire because the fire fighters didn't reach the station in time.
In 2009, we attended over 55,000 incidents
Only 60% of the Force's staff are actually Firefighters - so what are the other 40% doing?fi
"They are now going to have to work hard just like the rest of the world does - no sympathy from me at all"
Define hard work. Do you want everyone to work in manual labour type jobs and wear cloth caps in order to qualify as a 'hard worker'? Its widely acknowledged that the job of a firefighter is one of the most (if not THE most) dangerous in the world. Entering a burning building, carrying heavy equipment and then being expected to locate and retrieve bodies sounds like pretty damn hard work to me. And you accuse them of being lazy??!!!!???
You idiot. I'm sure they'll manage just fine without your sympathy. Its clowns like you that should have the number 9 button removed from all their telephones.
Reducing the number of firefighters on front line appliances will have direct consequences; not all of them intended. So, a few quid has been saved, books balanced and the bean counters are happy. However, as there are now only four on the pump instead of five, the actual management of the incident has now been compromised as the Officer-in-Charge now has to take a direct role in operations instead of what he should be doing which is risk assessing, directing operations, deciding strategy and managing the H&S of the crew. This, in turn, will lead to mistakes being made, firefighters being injured/killed, property suffering increased levels of damage and, hey presto, higher costs due to compensation, insurance payouts, overtime cover for sickness/injury, etc.
The reduction in manpower will affect on the crews attending incidents. Due to the increased risks and workload, they will be under greater stress, leading to higher levels of absence through sickness. Over time, these redductions will, in fact, cost more than they save. In short, these are the economics of the madhouse. Find the money from other sources; for instance, make the trucks last an additional year or two.
I'd be very surprised if the fire service hasn't suffered the same pointless and inefficient boom in management and administrative posts as the rest of the public sector over the last few decades so a few redundancies can probably easily be achieved without any loss of essential staff.
Goes to show that nobody's safe in these government (local and otherwise) cut backs. I dissagree with any cutbacks, but if it's for a more secure future, then I suppose it's the lesser of two evils. Nobody wants to see a decreased fire and rescure service, nor does anybody want to be on the victims side of a call out. Let's just hope they think it through before allowing the axe to fall.
Savage Mandarin, Manchester
Only 60% of the Force's staff are actually Firefighters - so what are the other 40% doing?fi
Someone has to deal with recruitment, staff leaving etc (HR), training, finance, estates management, supplies, vehicle maintenance, emergency planning, PR, education, Believe it or not, hospitals are not just staffed by doctors and nurses, schools are not staffed by just teachers and there are other employees in the ambulance service other than Paramedics. Who do you think runs things behind the scenes?
No one announced a change in the fire brigades policy towards fire fighting. I only found out after a couple of local fires that the new policy, is to protect life & other property at risk, and if there is none, to allow the fire to burn itself out. I've watched them at a house fire put their hoses away and watch.
If this is to be the new way of dealing with fires, then there's no longer the need for quite so many 'fire fighters' and we're at no more danger than we were before.
"There is, by now, enough empirical evidence to fairly accurately predict where 'jobs' will arise and they should staff to those figures"
So what, they have a crystal ball do they? How do they accurately predict a major disaster, such as a plane crash, a rail collision, a multiple motorway pile up? How do they predict a fire in the Beetham tower, or a terror attack? How do they predict faulty wiring that has remained undetected for years that leads to a major fire?
If you can predict all of these, then I suggest you hire yourself out to the Fire brigade ASAP and make yourself some money.
Savage Mandarin
Try operations room staff, catering, maintenance staff, vehicle workshops etc.
Some of you people really annoy me, comments like ''the laziest of the three services'', ''night shifts spent sleeping''.
You obviously have no idea how far the service throughout the UK has come within the last few years, the amount of Community work undertaken fitting smoke alarms in people's properties giving advice.. and thats including repsonding to emergency calls, training etc. GMC is a great F&RS and to be fair is slightly annoys me when lets face it... idiots like yourselves have a pop at the service.
In response to NOTHING EVER CHANGES, MIDDLETON
IF you ever use the fire service or a family member does remember what you said and let’s see then how lazy they are. Nothing ever changes for you because you probably have never done any thing worth while in your life. Every single fore fighter out there is willing to put their lives at risk for a stranger every time they go to work look at the article in the MEN the other day on Friday night 3 people was saved in house fires ask them if fire fighters are lazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First question: why do we need 63 Fire Brigades, all with different equipment and training in this country? Let's start rationalising these numbers and reduce the number of support staff
Why, when ever there has to be cutbacks, is it always the people on the coalface (ie the ones who do the actual work), that have to be reduced? How about they root out a few of the tiers of management, who are mostly ineffective and are there merely to promote diversity and other left wing nonsense.
Get rid of a few of them and there would be no need to reduce the the people who matter.