Over the last year, firefighters have proven time and time again that they provide a vital public service protecting our communities.
They have gone to extraordinary lengths to maintain and deliver essential services through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Firstly, we have all ensured that the fire and rescue service was able to deliver its vital life-saving functions in challenging circumstances. While millions of workers were told to work from home, firefighters – along with other ‘key workers’ – were placed at obvious additional risk by physically attending the workplace.
While FBU members were proud to do so, this is a fact which governments and employers should now acknowledge. Furthermore, while our communities have been gripped by this awful disease, our members have stepped up and taken on additional Covid related roles which have helped to save lives and keep people safe from COVID-19.
All of this has to be seen in the context of a bleak ten years of austerity. A decade of cuts to jobs and fire services. Services have been destroyed on an unprecedented scale and pay squeezed for the longest period in recent history as part of a wider attack on those working in public services.
Fire service employers have failed to recognise and value the work of their employees throughout the pandemic. The FBU made it clear that last year’s 2% pay offer, while better off in members’ pockets, was an insult to firefighters’ hard work.
It also does not go anywhere near far enough to address the £4,000 real-terms pay cut firefighters have faced over the last ten years.
In this year’s pay settlement, employers should begin to show they value their staff and give firefighters a fair and just pay rise.
We have written to the NJC and demanded that they urgently address our members’ hardship through an immediate and significant pay increase, as well as setting out a roadmap for further significant improvements in pay.
Fire service employers and Chief Fire Officers want the service to adapt to meet changing risks - we have always been committed to this and firefighters have demonstrated over the last year that they are willing to negotiate and take on additional duties to help protect the public.
However, we are clear that any discussion around permanently broadening firefighters’ roles needs to be met with investment in the service, so that we have the resources to keep our communities safe, and that pay reflects the range of work.
We have a struggle on our hands to secure a fair and proper pay increase for firefighters. The government has demonstrated its contempt for public sector workers by imposing a pay “pause”, announced in Rishi Sunak’s Spending Review in November last year. Let’s be clear, this simply means another government imposed freeze.
This was a cold, hard slap in the face for the key workers who have gone above and beyond to keep the country going throughout the pandemic.
Fire service employers could attempt to follow the government’s line and ignore the case for a pay rise – but we all need to make sure firefighters’ voices heard and demand the pay rise we deserve. We’ve written to every single Chief Fire Officer and every employer to ask their views on the issue. We’ll be letting you know their responses.
