The Fire Brigades Union has condemned cuts and shift changes in Mid and West Wales, which saw Llanelli fire station downgraded and firefighters told to stand down with only an hour’s notice.
Llanelli fire station has been downgraded to self-rostered crewing (known as day crewing plus), despite repeated objections by the FBU, the local MP, the local Welsh Assembly member, local fire authority members and the town council.
Barrie Davies, FBU brigade secretary in Mid and West Wales said: “The county commander entered the station just before 11pm on Sunday with no prior warning and gave the duty watch one hour to empty their lockers and ordered them to stand down from duty from midnight. This resulted in our members having to leave the station in the dead of night half way through their last shift.
“We fully expected the service to allow the crew the dignity of completing their last shift with a senior officer meeting them at 9am to thank them for all their years of service at Llanelli fire station. Some members had worked there for 25 years plus. This did not happen.
“FBU officials went into the station to voice our disappointment at the treatment of our members, only to be told by the assistant chief fire officer and county commander ‘we said we were changing the shift pattern on 8 April, we just didn’t state what time that would be’. This is a completely unacceptable way to treat professional firefighters.”
The union has written to both the deputy chief fire officer and members of the fire authority to voice the FBU’s concerns at this treatment.
