Retained firefighters Mark McMonagle, Barry Dowling, Damien Ward, Wesley Hudson and Anthony Greene at Athlone Fire Station last Friday. Photo: Paul Molloy.

‘All we're asking for is fairer pay and conditions’: strikers

With an escalation of industrial action on the cards at the weekend, Athlone firefighters made an impassioned plea from the picket line for “fairer pay and conditions” so that stations can recruit and retain members in the years ahead.

On Friday, during a visit by the Westmeath Independent to the station along Coosan Road, members reiterated again and again that striking is a last resort for them, however, they believe it is their only option to improve conditions for the 15 retained firefighters in Athlone and their colleagues up and down the country.

Retained firefighters, who are members of SIPTU, are currently picketing in shifts amid rolling closures of 50% of stations. On Friday, Athlone Fire Station was open, but on the following day it was shut and any calls would be covered by Kilbeggan or another station in Westmeath.

From 8am on Saturday morning next, unless the government move on pay and conditions, the firefighters have agreed all stations will “go dark”, meaning that they will have no internal communications other than life saving information.

Mark McMonagle, who is in the fire service over eight years now, said he and his colleagues are “deflated” by the continuing action.

Picketing resumed over a week ago after a vote rejected a Labour Court recommendation aimed at resolving their dispute over pay and conditions.

Members of the retained service are part-time firefighters who are paid an annual retainer of just over €8,000 for a new recruit and up to €10,000 a year later in the service for being on-call 24/7 and they are then paid for training and call-outs to emergencies.

All Mr McMonagle said he wants for the frontline job they do is to be paid “a liveable wage, a fair wage” with proper conditions and time off.

While the Labour Court recommendations suggested that the retainer be upped by between 24% to 32.7%, the local firefighters and their union said that the increases to a modest retainer might look a lot on a percentage basis, but, in reality it is a high percentage of a small amount and that's why it was rejected by over 80% of the 2,000 retained firefighters.

Meetings are due to take place this coming week to decide whether there will be an escalation of the industrial action.

Speaking as members of the public repeatedly beeped car horns in support of the strike, Wesley Hudson said the whole retained firefighter situation was introduced in the 1960s and 70s, but it's not fit for purpose anymore.

“Eight and half thousand is all you are getting as a retainer as a new recruit, you don't get (paid for) calls unless they come in which works out at about 90c an hour which is crazy,” he said.

“If you get a young man coming in here trying to go for a mortgage or a loan, I mean it's not going to happen on the money he's earning here. Plus if he tries to get another job it's up to the employer's discretion if they will allow someone go to calls,” added Mr Hudson, who has been firefighter for 24 years in what is generally the county's busiest station dealing with around 250 calls a year which is down over 50% on the previous decade. He said the firefighters are very restricted in what they can do because they are on call 24/7 and must live within three kilometres of the station.

“It's hard to get lads to make the commitment for what's on the table. Years ago it was okay, but now towns have got busier and grown and advanced, but the one thing that isn't growing and advancing is the retained firefighters.”

All of the firefighters in Athlone called on the government to respect the essential job they do in emergency situations and come up with a fair offer in terms of pay and conditions.

“All we're asking for is fairer pay and conditions, we're not asking for thousands or to get rich off this. No one came here to this job for money, it's a job they wanted to do, to come in and do to make a difference, but at the end of the day for the time that you give to the service you want fair pay.”

His colleague Mark McMonagle said it is the most dangerous job in the country, and some members have to subsidise their earnings with social welfare which is embarrassing for them. Others have to try and take on a second job to survive which is a struggle given the nature of an on-call post.

None of the 2,000 retained firefighters want to be out on strike, the group underlined on Friday, thanking the public for their unwavering support.

“The support (from the public) has been 100%,” Anthony Greene told the Westmeath Independent.

“They have been so supportive whether it's a beep of a car or coming by here, dropping in bits and pieces, food etc. The public have been fantastic. That's who we are here for, no one else. We're here to serve the community,” stressed Wesley.

“This is the last resort. We have no other option. We have to make some sort of noise about this, and station closures is not what we want,”

With several very qualified Athlone personnel due to retire in the next two to four years, another firefighter Michael Murtagh queried how they will be replaced under the current regime which is not enough to sustain anyone with a family and is highly restrictive. “To get people to fill those shoes of the people retiring, how are they going to attract people in? They are not going to,” he remarked. “The amount of money involved in a pittance compared to what is wasted.”

While prepared for an escalation, all of the firefighters called for a resolution. “We don't want to be here, we want to get back to our jobs, to calls and helping our community,” Wesley emphasised. “No one took this job to get rich. All we want is a fair deal,”