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MEDIA RELEASE
More than 21,500 people have signed an FBU petition opposing Cumbria County Council’s controversial plan to close its Fire Control Room in mid-June, outsourcing emergency fire calls to Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, 150 miles away.
A four-strong FBU delegation – Fire Control staff Christine Wilson and Morven Anson, Ade Kevern, Cumbrian brigade secretary and Kevin Brown, North West regional secretary are travelling to London as part of the union’s campaign to highlight the strength of local feeling against the planned cut.
Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale will be handing over 18,247 signatures to the Speaker of the House of Commons on behalf of the FBU and Cumbrian citizens. The union handed over 3,298 signatures to Cumbria County Council in February, triggering a full council debate. But councillors refused to budge.
Ade Kevern, FBU brigade secretary, said the council had continued to ignore local people’s strongly-felt desire for emergency fire calls to be answered locally. “The Government is always banging on about localism, but over 21,500 people in Cumbria have made it clear they want fire calls in Cumbria answered in Cumbria. Yet the County Council just ignores their views.”
Morven Anson, Cumbria Control FBU Chair said: “Cumbria County Council’s dismissive attitude towards the strength of feeling was hugely disappointing. The FBU will continue to fight for the best possible service for the people of Cumbria”.
***ENDS***
Contacts:
Ade Kevern 07967570362
CIRCULAR 2012HOC0193AD
29 March 2012
TO: ALL MEMBERS
Dear Brother / Sister
Please find attached, a copy of the above NJC circular number NJC/4/12, in respect of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal, for your information.
As members will recall, the FBU had raised this matter at the NJC, and the employers agreed to make a joint approach to the UK Government. The Government did not accede to the NJC representation. This is very disappointing, but not surprising.
Best wishes.
Yours fraternally
ANDY DARK
Assistant General Secretary
AD/jh
CIRCULAR 2012HOC0181MW
26th March 2012
TO: ALL CONTROL MEMBERS [Branches]
Dear Brother/Sister,
The FBU has a seat on the LGPS Joint Trade Union Side Officials Meeting where it feeds into the discussions and receives updates regarding the latest negotiations between the unions’ and Government.
The most recent meeting took place on 24th February where members were informed that the team negotiating the new LGPS was awaiting a response from Government on new scheme proposals formulated by the Negotiating Group. It was agreed that once the Negotiating Group was in a position to report on the proposals, that a meeting will be held to brief all LGPS TU Side unions’ simultaneously.
The timelines for negotiations mean that the so called ‘Big Issues’ such as accrual rates, contribution increases and Normal Pensionable Age (NPA) need to be agreed very soon. This will enable legislation to be formulated and be in place by March 2013 in order that a valuation takes place and for the new scheme to be introduced in April 2014.
We have made it clear at these meetings that the Heads of Agreement (HOA), which was agreed by the negotiators and forms the basis for negotiations around the changes to the scheme, is still unacceptable to the Fire Brigades Union.
This HOA brings forward several of the Hutton recommendations by one year to 2014 including a move to link the Normal Pension Age with the State Pension Age. The HOA also means that there will be a delay in the increase in employee contributions until 2014 to coincide with these other proposals.
Government are still expecting to realise the same savings over the same period but have proposed a position where this can be made up from lower contribution increases contributions and a swifter increase in NPA.
We have made clear that we do not accept the proposal for any increase in retirement age as our Control Members already work until 65; the HOA means the eventual introduction of an NPA of 68.
A key strand of our trade dispute is to try and gain access for FireFighter (Control) into a Fire Service Pension Scheme. As part of the ongoing negotiations with the Government the FBU has been having regular meetings with the Fire Minister and Civil Servants at CLG and have pressed home the wish for access by Control Members to a Fire Service Scheme. Negotiators recognise that this presents us with a number of challenges, but we will continue to develop our arguments around this point.
At the present time we are awaiting a report back from the LGPS Negotiating Group and once this is received we will be in a position to give you more information.
In the meantime you should continue to attend your branch meetings to make your views known and to hear feedback on the current situation in relation to the firefighter schemes. The Control Staff National Committee continues to meet to discuss pensions, amongst other issues, and to hear reports from your branches and to represent your interests at national level.
Yours fraternally,
MATT WRACK
General Secretary
SS/EMH
MEDIA RELEASE
The FBU has welcomed the announcement of £74 million of central grant funding to upgrade fire service emergency command and control centres. But the union says it is deeply concerned about some mergers, the creation of a regional control in the north west and staff cuts.
The union says it is deeply concerned at the privatisation of London’s control room. The union is calling for a halt to any further mergers or outsourcing until there has been a review of resilience standards for emergency controls.
Sharon Riley, FBU Executive Council member for Control firefighters said: “Fire service command and control centres are central to how the service responds to all incidents including all major emergencies. There are changes being pushed through without proper scrutiny, public consultation or debate.
“The Government is currently consulting on the new National Framework for the fire service and we are pushing for a much more joined up approach to national resilience. The current approach of self-organised control amalgamations will not necessarily deliver improved national resilience.
“It is also clearly not the case that Government funding is increasing the number of people available in controls as the Government has claimed. The mergers mean there are fewer people in emergency controls, in some cases significantly so.
“Our command and control centres are the link between the public and firefighters. We’re not call centres, we are the hub of emergency incident command which is key to delivering a safe and effective service to the public and firefighters.
MEDIA RELEASE
Cumbria Fire Brigades Union are to present a public petition to a full county council meeting in Kendal on 16 February. The union is also calling for full public consultation over plans to axe the county’s only fire control room.
Of the 20,000 total signatures on the petition, over 3,000 will be presented to the council on Thursday, more than enough to trigger a full debate. The balance will be presented nationally at Westminster at a later date.
A small delegation of FBU members will attend and they will make a short presentation to the meeting.
The council plans to shut its control room in June with the loss of 12 control posts. They plan to move the work to Cheshire fire service’s fire control until 2014.
Staff were only given a week’s notice before the axe plan was put to the Cabinet last year. It was a bolt from the blue as the staff had agreed in December 2010 to the loss of three posts, down to 12, to keep the Cumbria control safe in the aftermath of the collapse of the FireControl Project.
The County Council failed to bid for £1.8 million of central Government funding to upgrade their existing control.
There was no consultation prior to the decision being made, no debate by the full fire authority, and the public and press were excluded when key financial information was discussed at Cabinet.
The national FireControl Project collapsed at a cost of at least £500 million, the planning was a disaster and the technology wouldn’t work. The project, backed by the county council, collapsed costing £500 million, one of the most expensive and disastrous IT projects ever.
Cumbria councillors have signed up to pay for the regional fire control centre without the technology being in place, one of the central fault lines of the defunct FireControl Project. Much is being made of new technology using GPS to direct the movement of fire appliances.
Cumbria FBU brigade secretary Adrian Kevern said “Much is being made of how good the technology is, making all the same claims made for the defunct and disgraced national FireControl Project. Our county is well placed to know that you cannot rely on GPS systems to move your emergency appliances around.
“GPS is useless when roads are blocked by snow, fallen trees after storms or are flooded and unpassable. When bridges are swept away or too damaged to cross your GPS is useless and we are well used to dealing with those scenario’s in Cumbria’s fire control.
“Council explanations for the move lack credibility and we doubt whether the Cabinet ever understood the full implications of the decision it was taking. The County council has not explained when and how they properly considered all of the plans nor subjected them to proper public scrutiny.
“For councillors to say it is enough to have consulted over a previous botched plan that has now been abandoned is absurd. We need proper public scrutiny and consultation, our councillors must think again.”
***ENDS***
Ade Kevern (Cumbria)
Email:- Adrian.Kevern@fbu.org.uk
Mob:- 07967570362
CIRCULAR 2012HOC0099MW
6 February 2012
TO: ALL MEMBERS (CONTROL)
Dear Brother/Sister
You may be aware that the Government intends to issue a medal to commemorate the forthcoming Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. We understand that the medal is due to be issued to all emergency service staff who have completed five years service. There are a range of views within the Union regarding the issuing of medals and regarding the Jubilee, however, what the Executive Council has firmly argued is that Fire and Rescue staff working in Emergency Fire Control should be treated equally with other uniformed staff. As we have said in other regards, we are all ‘Part of the Team’.
We have raised our concerns at this issue with the CLG Fire Minister. Unfortunately we have not so far been successful on this front. We subsequently raised the matter at the National Joint Council last week and I am pleased to report that the Employers side supported our view and agreed to submit a joint letter on the subject. That will now be done and I will inform you of the outcome.
Best wishes.
Yours fraternally
MATT WRACK
GENERAL SECRETARY
MW/sll
MEDIA RELEASE
The Fire Brigades Union have hit back at reports that a petition aimed at saving Cumbria’s 999 Fire Control room has failed. An online e-petition was intended to run along side a more traditional paper petition was submitted without the Unions knowledge to a council meeting last Thursday.
As the online petition had attracted less than 3000 signatures it fell short of the number required to trigger a full council debate. However, the FBU traditional petition has actually attracted over 20,000 signatures and this number is growing daily, more than enough to trigger a debate.
Morven Anson, FBU Cumbria Control Chair said ‘Gary Strong’s claims are an insult to the 20,000 people throughout the county who have so far joined the campaign to save this invaluable local resource. The e-petition was submitted without our knowledge and it may result in us being unable to submit our actual petition next month, as planned.
“Closing down Cumbria’s only fire control room has never been properly debated at a full council meeting. This is an attempt to close down debate and railroad through the changes without them being subject to the scrutiny they deserve.
“The voters of Cumbria deserve more than to be served up the same tired and discredited script about the failed technology of the Government’s regional control project. That was a financial and technology disaster costing taxpayers over £500 million for a system which never worked.
“You cannot treat a safety critical service in this way. We will not have full debate shut down, the public deserves better than this.
“Cheshire plan to make a ‘healthy income’ from this project at the expense of the Cumbrian taxpayer. Gary Strong may claim to have no intention of reversing the decision, but it his duty as a County Councillor to take notice of the public’s views.”
The Fire Brigades Union say they will continue to fight the move to Winsford, Cheshire which is due to happen later this year resulting in a double disruption of the 999 service. They claim with the proposed move to Warrington now brought forward to the end of 2013, to continue with the move to Cheshire would be a waste of taxpayers money, particularly as Cumbria are set to foot the bill for the full cost.
***ENDS***
Contacts:
Ade Kevern Mob:- 07967570362
Christine Wilson Mob:- 07761818188
Morven Anson Mob:- 07887602863
CIRCULAR 2012HOC0030SS
13th January 2012
To: All Control Staff Branches
Cc : All Officials
Dear Brother/Sister
You will be aware of the ongoing discussions between the government, employers and unions in relation to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) for England and Wales which affects fire control members.
The discussions have taken the form of a series of high level meetings with the trade union side Joint Secretaries, which in this case are officials from UNISON, UNITE and GMB. The outcomes of these meetings are then discussed in a meeting of all eleven trade unions who have members in the LGPS. The Joint Secretary talks culminated in the production of a ‘Heads of Agreement’ document. (A joint union bulletin outlining this in detail is attached to this circular and is also available on the FBU website www.fbu.org.uk )
Following the production of the ‘Heads of Agreement’ government have suspended their consultation around the increase in employee contributions and worsening of accrual rates to allow the negotiations on this document to continue. However government have also confirmed that should the Heads of Agreement process fail the consultation process will recommence and as such have established that stakeholder responses are still required by the original closing date. In accordance with this the union response was submitted on 6 January 2012 and is also available on the FBU website.
SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND
The situation is different in Scotland as there are currently no proposals to amend the LGPS or increase employee contribution rates. In Northern Ireland no decision has been made but it is expected that they will follow the position adopted in England and Wales.
HEADS OF AGREEMENT: ENGLAND AND WALES
On 9 January 2012 the LGPS trade unions met to discuss the ‘Heads of Agreement’ and to gauge the response of individual unions to the proposals contained within it. UNITE were not in attendance since they were discussing the document internally with their Executive.
Although the majority of other unions were supportive of the Heads of Agreement the FBU took a different view for the following reasons.
The FBU believe that;
- Any proposal to introduce an increased normal pension age in 2014 does not take account of the operational elements of the role of a fire control operator;
- Entering further negotiations on the basis of the Heads of Agreement clearly means accepting an increased normal pension age.
- The protection for low paid workers proposed in the ‘Heads of Agreement’ does not apply to any fire control member.
In essence the union felt that supporting this Heads of Agreement was;
- Not in the best interests of fire control operators;
- Did not take account of the specific nature of their role.
Since this meeting it has been widely publicised that UNISON and GMB are fully supportive of this ‘Heads of Agreement’ as a basis for further negotiation on the proposals for the LGPS in England and Wales. It was later reported that UNITE, following their internal discussion, had also taken a decision to reject the ‘Heads of Agreement’.
CONTROL MEMBERS: ACCESS TO FIRE SERVICE PENSION SCHEME
The FBU is still pursuing a position whereby fire control operators could have the option of joining a fire service pension scheme which recognises the specific factors associated with their role.
This is an important issue as the FBU maintain that;
An occupational pension scheme must reflect the occupation it relates to in all aspects including the normal pensionable age.
The FBU has been discussing this option with Department for Communities and Local Government officials and the Fire Minister and has been examining the financial implications with actuaries. These discussions will continue and further information will be made available as they progress but there are obvious hurdles to overcome if this is to be achieved.
The Executive Council are scheduled to meet on or around the 23 January to receive a full briefing on the ongoing pension issues for all fire service pension schemes, including the LGPS. Fire control members will be updated on the discussions around the LGPS following this meeting.
Yours fraternally,
SEAN STARBUCK
National Officer
SS/jr
CIRCULAR 2012HOC0026MW
12 January 2012
TO: ALL MEMBERS (CONTROL) HOME ADDRESSES
Dear Brother/Sister
You will be aware of the ongoing discussions between the Government, Employers and Unions in relation to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) for England and Wales which affects Fire Control members.
The discussions have taken the form of a series of high level meetings with the trade union side Joint Secretaries, which in this case are officials from UNISON, UNITE and GMB. The outcomes of these meetings are then discussed in a meeting of all eleven trade unions who have members in the LGPS. You will also be aware that the Joint Secretary talks culminated in the production of a ‘Heads of Agreement’ document. (A joint union bulletin outlining this in detail is available on the FBU website www.fbu.org.uk).
Following the production of the ‘Heads of Agreement’, Government suspended the ongoing consultation around the increase in employee contributions and worsening of accrual rates to allow the negotiations on this document to continue. However because the Government have confirmed the default position is the consultation, should the Heads of Agreement process fail, they have confirmed that the responses were still therefore required. (Local Government Pension Scheme: Consultation on proposed increases to employee contribution rates and changes to scheme accrual rates, effective from 1 April 2012 in England and Wales). The Union response to this consultation was submitted on 6 January 2012 and is also available on the FBU website.
The suspension of this consultation process is due to an agreement reached with the GMB, Unison and Unite that the Treasury target of £900million savings can be realised from a one stop solution combining an earlier introduction of the Hutton recommendations in 2014. This would replace the previous two stage proposals including:
1) Increases to employee contributions.
2) Wider pension changes based around the Hutton recommendations.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
The situation is different in Scotland as there are currently no proposals to amend the LGPS or increase, employee contribution rates. In Northern Ireland the decision has not yet been made but it is currently expected that they will follow the position adopted in England and Wales.
Heads of Agreement: England and Wales
On 9 January 2012 the LGPS trade unions met to discuss the ‘Heads of Agreement’ and to gauge the response of individual unions to the proposals contained within it. UNITE were not in attendance since they were discussing the document internally with their Executive.
Several areas of the HOA were discussed and various unions raised concerns about the lack of detail. This detail is not expected until the next stage of the negotiations. Following these discussions the majority of the unions present supported the ‘Heads of Agreement’ as a foundation to move to a more detailed negotiation process designed to arrive at a new scheme design based around the principles contained in this document.
The FBU took a different view of the situation and voiced our concern that the proposal to introduce an increased Normal Pension Age in 2014 did not take account of the operational elements of the role of a Fire Control Operator and that this was unacceptable to our members. The union also outlined that we believe entering further negotiations on the basis of the Heads of Agreement clearly meant accepting an increased Normal Pension Age. We reported that this was not in the best interests of Fire Control Operators, did not take account of the specific nature of their role and could not be supported.
In addition to this the FBU also explained that the protection for low paid workers proposed in the ‘Heads of Agreement’ would not apply to any Fire Control member. This concern was also highlighted in the FBU response to the consultation process on the proposal to LGPS contribution rate in England and Wales mentioned earlier.
Since this meeting it has been widely publicised that UNISON and the GMB are fully supportive of this ‘Heads of Agreement’ as a basis for further negotiation on the proposals for the LGPS in England and Wales. Despite this position, the FBU made it quite clear that we could not support the Heads of Agreement in its current form.
It was later reported that UNITE, following their internal discussion, had also taken a decision to reject the ‘Heads of Agreement’.
Control Members: Access to Fire Service Pension Scheme
On 10 January officials from the FBU Control Staff National Committee met with Head Office Officials to discuss the current position within the LGPS. At this meeting officials were given an update on the ongoing discussions, the situation surrounding the Heads of Agreement and the ongoing challenge by the FBU for Fire Control Operators to be eligible to join a Fire Service pension scheme which would recognise the specific factors associated with their role.
This option for Fire Control members to join a Fire Service pension scheme is an important issue as the FBU maintains that it is a fundamental requirement that an occupational pension scheme reflects the occupation it relates to in all aspects including the Normal Pensionable Age. The FBU has already been discussing this option with representatives of the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Fire Minister and has been examining the financial implications with actuaries. These discussions will continue and further information will be made available as they progress but there are obvious hurdles to overcome if this is to be achieved.
The Executive Council are scheduled to meet on or around the 23 January to receive a full briefing on the ongoing pension issues for all Fire Service pension schemes, including the LGPS. Fire Control members will be updated on the discussions around the LGPS following this meeting.
Best wishes.
Yours fraternally
MATT WRACK
GENERAL SECRETARY
MW/sll
CIRCULAR: 2011HOC0625MW
8th December 2011
To: All Members
Cc: Executive Council Members
Regional & Brigade Officials
Control Staff National Committee
Dear Brother/Sister,
In the election for Control Staff National Committee Chair, the Scrutineers have declared the result of the ballot as follows:
Election of Control Staff National Committee ChairOur independent scrutineer’s (Popularis) report of voting in the above election, which closed at 2pm on Thursday 8th December, is as follows:-
| Number of ballot papers dispatched: |
1367 |
| Number of ballot papers received: |
377 |
| Number of papers found to be spoilt/invalid: |
0 |
Result (1 to elect):-
Kathryn Smith 249…… ELECTED
Lynda Rowan O’Neil 128…….
The ballot papers will be stored securely for a period of twelve months before being destroyed.
I am therefore pleased to declare that Sister Smith is re-elected as National Control Staff National Committee Chair.
Best wishes.
Yours fraternally,
MATT WRACK
GENERAL SECRETARY
MW/PW/Jr
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