Scotland’s fire chief suffers no confidence vote by the Fire Brigades Union

A vote of no confidence has been passed by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) in senior managers who work at the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SRFS).
The two main concerns the union had regarded the dependence on overtime in order to maintain staffing levels, as well as the general availability of fire appliances.
In addition, the FBU Scottish Regional Committee singled out fire chief Alasdair Hay and the rest of his senior leadership team.
The FBU also claimed that the SFRS are still yet to address a host of issues that re in relation to the integration of regional fire services across Scotland.
Back in 2013, these were merged into the national service, with it emerging recently that firefighters across Scotland were being offered a pay rise of up to 20%, should they agree to take on new responsibilities.
As part of the deal, it is thought that between 200 and 300 jobs could be cut from the service.
However, rather than a pay rise, this scheme was being described as a new reward package for a new expanded role, which provides emergency medical care and tackles terrorism.
The Fire Brigades Union Scotland were less than happy with this, saying at the time that it was “wholly unacceptable” that members had been directly contacted about the offer.
Kirsty Darwent, the chairwoman of the SFRS board, explained more about their proposal, and hope to reach a viable outcome.
“We are offering to pay our firefighters more – but we are asking them to do a lot more, by taking on a completely new role to enhance the safety of the communities they serve,” Darwent said.
“This is a proposal. We will now enter into formal negotiations with staff and unions, and believe we can reach the right outcome for our firefighters and the people of Scotland.”