NRFA to hold Emergency Meeting in Mullingar
The National Retained Firefighters Association are to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday 19th July at 7pm at the Mullingar Park Hotel, Co. Westmeath.
The meeting is open to all NRFA members and non-members and they are looking to have at least one rep from every county in attendance.
The National Retained Firefighters Association (NRFA) have urged all its members and retained firefighters across Ireland to reject the recent labour courts recommendations in the SIPTU ballot.
The NRFA say the recommendations don’t come close to future proofing the fire service or paying the current members a proper wage.
The association which represents retained firefighters is asking how fire service management are going to recruit the 400 staff needed and what are thy offering them. They also want to know how they plan on recruiting enough staff to give every station in the country the option of having 2 crews in place, while even nowadays some stations are struggling to hold onto even 1 crew.
According to the NRFA, the Local Government Management Agency and Chief Fire Officers are likely to say that firefighters are getting a good deal, and that they should accept it, but the association states that it’s a better deal for management rather than for firefighters themselves. The deal is likely to provide a professional whole time fire service, delivering a 24/7 service for a part time wage, something which the National retained Firefighters Association disagrees with and is urging all retained firefighters to reject the labour courts recommendations.