Members of Merseyside Fire Brigades Union are being balloted for action short of staging a full strike.
As a result of a long-standing disagreement over terms and conditions and reduction in minimum night staff in fire control, members across the region are casting their vote as to whether they favour taking industrial action. The new ballot and potential action are separate from existing disputes over pay nationally.
Union members began making their views known on Tuesday and will be able to do so until Friday November 11 as to whether to stop undertaking any pre-arranged overtime, beginning no earlier than Thursday December 1 and potentially lasting for six months. Members have elected to hold the ballot in relation to the introduction of new duty shift systems, reduction of night staff in the control room to five, apprentices being required to attend the workplace outside of core hours to undertake training sessions, assessments, charity days and exams, and a non-agreed expansion of the firefighter role in contracts for all new entrants.
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Ian Hibbert, Fire Brigades Union Merseyside Brigade Secretary, said: “Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service continued refusal to abide by locally and nationally agreed negotiation procedures has left Merseyside FBU members with little choice but to ballot for action short of strike. FBU members do not take industrial action lightly, but we can no longer stand by as our terms and conditions of service are attacked and eroded.
“Merseyside FBU members are angry and frustrated that their concerns are continually marginalised and that Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service has repeatedly sought to circumvent locally and nationally agreed negotiation procedures and, in many cases, sought to cut the Fire Brigades Union out of conversations entirely. We are not asking for a lot. All we are asking is that our employer honour our nationally agreed terms and conditions of service and sit down and reach agreement with the FBU on all issues as they should have done from the outset.”
Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary, added: “Firefighters deserve to be treated fairly: that should be a given. That involves employers sticking to what they’ve negotiated with firefighters and negotiating rather than imposing changes.
“We need a fire service where properly paid firefighters are treated fairly and there is a proper level of cover. We are prepared to fight for both.
“The whole union stands shoulder to shoulder with Merseyside firefighters and control staff in their dispute.” A Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said the service was "disappointed" the union had moved to a ballot.
In a statement, the spokesperson said: "It is important that the public understand that the changes to the staffing arrangements in our fire control room have actually led to an increase in the numbers of staff employed - moving from 32 to 33 fire control officers with immediate effect, with a further two posts built into the model for operational resilience during periods of high demand. The changes have been introduced following extensive consultation with staff and the public are based on the demands placed on the service. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service is twice as busy during the day than it is at night.
"The introduction of the Station Manager role (which constitutes an increase in control numbers) with specific responsibility for the management of the control room will ensure Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service is able to respond to all foreseeable risk." The statement said no members of Fire Control staff will be required to change their contract of employment on the basis of the adjustments to the operating model.
It added: "With regards to contractual changes elsewhere our contracts of employment to which the ballot makes reference, have been in place since 2016. The contracts capture the Service’s desire and duty to protect the public during flooding, terrorism and through medical intervention, notably when asked to assist by our other emergency services, but this has always been the case.
"As a service we are at a loss to understand how this or an increase in fire control staff would put the public at greater risk. Finally It is true to say that we don’t pay our staff for attending charity events, that would be strange in the extreme but we do pay them if they are required to attend mandatory training, exams or assessments."
