Cambridgeshire chief fire officer (CFO), Chris Strickland, has issued a bizarre message to his staff via the FRS’s intranet system. The Cambridgeshire FRS intranet article makes references to ‘quite a few derogatory comments in the press regarding the appointment of Chris Strickland as chief fire officer, almost all of which have come from an unnamed FBU spokesperson.’ It goes on to say: ‘does being a union official give you the right to say what you feel even if it may contravene service policies?
In his own comments, the CFO says that those making the criticism are ‘unnamed’ and states that such actions are ‘cowardly’. There is only one statement that has been issued by the FBU on the CFO’s appointment. It was published on the union’s website and was not anonymous. In fact, you can read it here.
Given that local union officials have not issued any press release or statement on the CFO’s appointment, the tone and content of the article are at best misleading. There is nothing anonymous about the FBU’s statement.
It is no surprise that the CFO would be defensive and sensitive about the central issue, which is that he was retired, got re-appointed and then promoted. What does come as a surprise is that he continues to breathe new life into the controversy by making false and unsubstantiated assertions.
It is difficult to understand what the chief fire officer hopes to gain by this. It appears to be simply an ill-considered attempt to smear local union officials. Cameron Matthews and all of the other Cambridgeshire FBU officials are extremely professional, well respected union reps who work tirelessly on behalf of our members.
Our worry is that the service has been bitten by a number of difficulties. Staff are dissatisfied with service leadership, particularly the travesty at an employment tribunal last year where the service was found to have engaged in an ‘irrational and perverse’ exercise in its treatment of a female employee and highly-respected trade union official. This led to a finding that the member has been unfairly constructively dismissed.
The chief needs to stop damaging the reputation of the fire and rescue service. He’s had his pay-out, he’s got his promotion. He needs to now get on with job he promised the fire and rescue authority he would do.
