PDA

View Full Version : Firefighters possible strike!

AntiEuro
07-09-2002, 16:14
Do you think firemen deserve a pay rise. Currently they earn £21534 per anum. no overtime, no additional allowances. Have to pay 11% of wages to pension fund. They are currently asking for 30k
AntiEuro
07-09-2002, 16:15
ps thats after five years of training
stone28
07-09-2002, 17:26
thats i lot more than i get and i live in one of the most expensive areas in the uk so maybe give them 10%over two years they do a bloody good job but 40% is taking the mick, next roadcleaners who also do a good job wil be asking for 50% it will just get out of hand
AntiEuro
08-09-2002, 08:33
I think there argument might be that they were on the same wage as the police 20 years ago for working a 48 hour week. I went past a recruitment agency the other day and there was an advert outside for a butler. 18-21K and two bed cottage. I think they would except 25-27k only a tax rise of 32p per dwelling across the land. Tory Blair will drop billions of pounds of bombs in the next 6 months for what!
STEVIE_H
08-09-2002, 10:08
I live in Hertfordshire (nr fishers green) and I have two friends in the fire brigade - in the RMC incedently. The average price of a house is 200k - they are both in the early thirties and earn around 25k. So just to get by in addition to saving lives they have to work their days off. I have another friend who drives trains 32k basic (but good luck to him) something wrong eh? Perhaps their pay should be regional, a fireman in Newcastle earning 25k is well off..
However bottom line - public sector workers (teachers and nursres included) are all under paid, give these guys the salary they deserve, and stone28, I think you'll agree they deserve if they come and save your life.
paulh
08-09-2002, 12:43
Give em the money, they earn it.
stone28
08-09-2002, 12:50
true mate if they did save me life they would worth the money but what i am saying is that there are alot of poeple out there who are on a lot less and live in a expensive area i get about 2/3rds of what they get and i live in an area that costs about the same about to buy an house i can't see myself ever buying a house and if we have children my wife would have to go back to work because i couldn't afford to support them both and yes i do normally work 6/7days a week to earn extra money to go fishing and i also get more than some of my colleges so i do know about living on the lower wage scale
all i was saying was about the other public sector workers who live the same areas and are noway near what the firemen earn now no matter what they have been offered they do a job that is still needed to be done for the commeninty like nurses, streetcleaners pest control officers ect
paulh
08-09-2002, 12:59
I agree with what you're saying there I'm a postie living in Surrey what chance have I got of buying a house round here ... zilch, if I worked 10 miles up the road I would get London weighting, yet the two towns come under the same council. But if I lived up north, earning the same as I do here, I prob could afford my own place.So I do agree that the wages should reflect the area you live in to some extent.
But firemen, as with nurses etc I belive all deserve more money.
STEVIE_H
08-09-2002, 15:05
Tom, I think we are sort of agreeing, the trouble with many public sector workers are that they are paid against a National scale. My friend Paul, in the brigade has just spent a week in Newcastle - where they earn the same but the cost of living is far, far less. They believe that the cost of living should be relected in the salary, and the truth is around here you need a lot more cash.

This is the same for all of the other workers you have mentioned, and that is why there is a shortage of them around here.

One argument I often here is that the firefighters / teachers etc knew the salary when they took the job, but hey no-one new that the price of a house would double in 4 years..You often hear about the wealthy South East, but in reality a lot of people, public sector, and you and me both have to suffer for it.
- Well I've waffled on enough, give them the rise - because I want to make sure they are around if I need them to risk their necks if they are saving mine..
CAKEY
08-09-2002, 23:13
Could I have a rise please?
40k would be nice !
Beckham earns 40k in 2 days and I know I work harder for longer!!