The firemen have been told that they will only get 11% pay rise – although there had been a provisional agreement with their employers – local government – for a 16% rise. Both these deals require some modernisation – while I agree with some changes – I am greatly concerned with the plans to effectively reduce the force by 20% – or – to get rid of one in five firemen.
Modernisation in the UK has nearly always ended up with a worse service – a good example is the National Health Service – where there was some slack in the provision – which meant that the service was able to deal with emergencies and problems better. However the real serious effect of modernisation has been to demoralise NHS staff and to destroy the concept of a team. So now the cleaners are employed by contractors – the nurses are from a temporary agency – and the managers are on temporary contracts – looking to make a quick impression before moving on to the next higher paid job.
Short term solutions and short term strategies have destroyed a lot of what was good about the NHS and caused serious problems – such as selling off cottage/local hospitals has caused bed blocking. Selling off accommodation has meant that lower paid staff cannot live in the big cities – which is the cause of the staffing crisis. No accountability has meant that the wards are dirtier and so on and so on.
So modernisation will have a serious effect on the morale of the fire fighters. Modernisation will mean that instead of the teams such as ‘Blue Watch’ and ‘Red Watch’ you will have revolving shifts – which will keep the accountants happy – but will make the teams less effective – will make the job – just a job – not a service.
The other big concern is terrorism – who will be in the front line to deal with bombs, crashed planes or chemical and biological attacks? The Blair government by adopting a very aggressive stance – backing – and promoting – George Bush’s planned war with Iraq – has made Britain number one target for an attack. Making the job of fire service much more dangerous and life threatening.
So I repeat the following two questions – if the fire service is modernised
… how many firemen’s lives, lost, will be acceptable for the cost savings?
… how many public lives, lost, will be acceptable for the cost savings?
Will the politicians responsible for the moderisation – actually take the responsibility for their decisions — I think not – by the time it all goes wrong – they will be in a different job – in a different department – and will lay the blame on someone else.
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