Disappointment' over fire action

Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 3:39 pm

Fire bosses in South Yorkshire say they are "disappointed" after a union announced plans for industrial action over shift changes.

Crews are to go from working two nine-hour day shifts and two 15-hour night shifts to 12-hour day and night shifts.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) says the shifts will cause childcare problems. On Friday it said crews had voted in favour of action short of a strike.

The fire service said response times would not be affected by the action.

The FBU said 586 votes were cast in the ballot, with 441 people voting in favour of industrial action and 143 voting against.

More than 160 staff did not vote.

'Extremely confident'

Chief fire officer Mark Smitherman said: "I am disappointed at this outcome but heartened that such a significant proportion of the workforce chose not to vote in favour of this action.

"I believe that reflects the fact that nobody is losing their job, nobody is losing any money, nobody will be working longer hours and there will be no cuts to fire cover in South Yorkshire."

Mr Smitherman said the changes would improve public safety by providing firefighters with up to three extra hours a day for training and community safety work.

He said: "It is a terrible shame that the union is threatening cuts to services through this industrial action.

"Local people should have no fears about this action. We are extremely confident in the arrangements we have in place to maintain our emergency response across the county."

The FBU said that from 0001 BST on 4 May - the date the shift changes are due to come into force - firefighters would only work to their contractual nine-hour days.

It said no pre-arranged overtime would be worked.

'From BBC web site'