Firefighters presented evidence on Northern Ireland’s Public Service Pensions Bill on Wednesday at the Assembly’s Finance and Personnel Committee.
Fire Brigades Union General Secretary, Matt Wrack, National Officer, Sean Starbuck, Vice President, Jim Barbour, and Northern Ireland Secretary, Jim Quinn, all attending the meeting at Parliament Buildings in Belfast.
Addressing Committee Chairperson - Daithi McKay, Wrack said: “We have had this debate for the past two and a half years in different parts of the UK with Westminster, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government, and we hope that the discussion with yourselves can avoid some of the difficulties we have encountered.
“As you’d expect from a trade union we have a number of principled views on changes to pensions but we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to talk about very much about evidence.
“We have we believe a strong case about the specifics of the firefighters pensions’ schemes and the proposals for the new scheme, and our case is essentially around the argument that if it’s an occupational scheme it must be based around the occupation.”
The committee also heard evidence from teaching union Nasuwt, the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (NIPSA) and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).
You can hear a recording of the session here.
