London Firefighters told: We can replace you

Published: 28 October, 2010
by DAN CARRIER

FIREFIGHTERS who fail to sign new contracts will be “easily replac­ed”, Conservative London Assembly member Brian Coleman has told the New Journal.

Firefighters staged an eight-hour strike on Saturday,  when picket lines were set up outside West Hampstead, Belsize Park, Kentish Town and Euston fire stations. 

Firefighters have until the end of November to sign new contracts that will mean changes to shifts which staff claim will leave insufficient cover at night. If they fail to sign they face the sack. 

But Mr Coleman, Assembly member for Barnet and Camden who chairs the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, said that if firefighters were sacked he would have no problem filling the vacancies. 

He insisted: “I could put an advert in the Evening Standard and get 20,000 people applying. London will be totally safe.”

Mr Coleman said that 27 engines were left to cover an area that normally has 160, but the union says that  only 11 of those were available.  

Mr Coleman added that the engines, run by private company Asset Co, showed that a ­smaller service was able to cope well.

He believes firefighters are playing a dangerous game of brinksmanship and that the maj­ority will back down and sign up to new working shifts.  He added: “I think a considerable number will sign the new contracts.”

Fire Brigades Union representative Ben Sprung, based at Kentish Town, said he and his colleagues were des­perate to find a solution to the contracts issue.

Management had proposed longer day shifts and shorter nights, he added. Firefighters say blazes are statistically worse at night-time and that more staff should be available then. Mr Sprung said: “If management removes the threat of mass sackings we will not go on strike. We are committed to a negotiated settlement but you can’t negotiate if they are saying: agree to changes or you are fired. 

“We are happy to compromise but we will never compromise with public safety.”

He challenged Mr Coleman’s version of  the cover provided on Saturday. He said only 11 of the 27 fire engines were available, and the service was badly managed. 

Decisions as to who was in charge of crews were left to inexperienced firefighters, he claimed, with the crucial role decided on the basis of who “wanted to ride in the front”.

Mr Sprung added: “Many of the people working for Asset Co decided they would not do the job as they did not at first realise they were being asked to break a strike. 

“Brian Coleman thinks you just show up and squirt a bit of water. Firemen have to be fully trained and competent.”

He added that the fire service was working tirelessly with union officials to find common ground before the November 28 deadline.