ALOT off topic this...

[andy2tanx]

I just wanted more people to read this, this is fast becoming an issue in the UK and I thought maybe you would all read this and maybe give it a little thought, please!

http://www.30kfirepay.co.uk/nextpage.php?page=welcome

[Davey Willo]

Well my signature is on there now bro...
As far as I'm concerned you hairy arsed fire fighters should be paid a lot more than you are now, One of my relatives (in law) is alive today thanks to the quick response of firemen, not only in getting him out of the house in time (he was unconscious when they found him) but then keeping him going until the paramedics arrived.

Good luck to you and all of the other firefighters in the UK

Dave.

[Frog]

I've signed as well mate.  Thanks to you lot I'm here today after being pulled out of a burning house at 5 years old.  Left me with pyrophobia right enough, which to me is a small cost to have my life.  Probably why I dive - safety in the wet stuff!!  Dive safely.

[andy2tanx]

Thanks Dave & Frog.  Hard to believe I know, but it is quite possible that the firemen you mentioned could now be able to claim benefit due to the low pay we earn.  A disgusting indictment of the conditions we ALL have to work with in this time.  (Quick 2tanx, say something thick, you're letting it slip a bit there!!)

[Gavin Yates]

I've also added the moniker to the petition.

What annoys me as a member of the forth estate is how there is never a big who-ha over fireservice pay.

Nurses, Doctors, Teachers even the cops but Fire personnel - who actually risk their lives on a regular basis are the forgotten service.

When I worked in local radio I spent four days with a watch and I was amazed at the dedication and ability of the guys. Today my junior researchers get paid more and don't have to work the unsociable hours.

[andy2tanx]

A manager at McDonalds gets more than a fireman too, and he also gets a car I'm told.

[Lou]

Hmmm - tricky one this.

The website compares your pay to that of "skilled manual workers".  Well £21k is more than skilled manual workers earn at my place of work, and that is in Oxfordshire where the cost of living is enormous.

However compared to coppers you don't earn as much, when surely the job is an equivalent rating?

Maybe local weightings should be employed in these civil jobs....why should a job be paid to allow a decent standard of living for someone in an expensive area, when that pay lets their colleagues in cheaper areas live at a much higher standard - it's the way private business works to balance this problem.

I do think you guys do an excellent job, and I do think that the current rates are on the low side for some areas, but £30k?  That is more than alot of managers are paid...not skilled manual labour.

Now I get thrown off the board.....argumentative bee-yatch!
Just my thoughts though, absolutely no disrespect to the brigade.

Best wishes

Lou

[andy2tanx]

The 30k stems from the pay formula won in the late seventies I think which said we should be getting the national average wage plus 10%.  Fair for firemen don't you think.

[Lou]

The concept is fair, however the reality is that the balance of pay means that the average is no longer what the majority of people earn.  It is skewed by the higher numbers of high earners in the stock market, e-commerce and small businesses whilst the rates the mass workforce gets are much lower in comparison.

I am not saying that you are not worth it, but civil workers do expect more than those in the private sector.  I agree that you in the fire service have, in general, made less fuss than teachers, nurses and the police, for example, but you will be much better off in real terms under the requested pay deal (and now) than your colleagues in the south/south east.  Is that fair?

[Lou]

Actually, just ignore all the above...bad time.  It just so happens that it was company wide pay review results day here yesterday and when you fail to break the 2% mark it is a bit of a downer.  So talk of earnings is a sore point....apologies for taking my grief out on you.  I'll go back to moping around with a sullen expression - along with the rest of the workforce!!

:ogre: - Lou