By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Civic chiefs are calling on Gloucestershire fire and rescue bosses to drop “disastrous” plans to change shift patterns across the service after dozens turn up at council meetings.
Gloucestershire County Council leaders approved in December changes to the wholetime working shift from nine hour days and 15-hour nights to 11-hour days and 13-hour nights for their stations.
These changes are due to be implemented within six months but more than 70 firefighters from across the county are strongly opposed to them.
They say the imposed changes to working hours will increase childcare and caring costs for firefighters already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.
Ten frontline firefighters addressed a private meeting earlier this month and spoke of how the “disastrous” changes would impact them personally.
And today (March 21) dozens of firefighters packed the meeting at Shire Hall.
Councillor Jeremy Hilton (LD, Kingsholm and Wotton) told the meeting he had been told how the changes will affect the lives of firefighters.
He said it would increase pressure on family members and partners who would have to “pick up the caring responsibilities”.
“There could be difficulties to recruit firefighters, particularly female firefighters”.
He said the majority of letters they received came from female firefighters.
He also said there would be an impact on the mental health of firefighters and that senior management has not properly listened to the concerns.
Councillor John Bloxsom (L, Rodborough) thanked the firefighters for giving evidence.
He said it was ironic it was being given on the same day a press release praised the service. He said culture and morale is important for performance.
He said changing shift patterns across the whole service “is almost a sledgehammer to crack a nut”.
“I agree with the comment that we need to pause this,” he said.
“The administration will be in a different form after May 1.”
Cllr Hilton said the move should be abandoned.
And Cllr Bernie Fisher (LD, St Paul’s and Swindon) said he was shocked to hear the implications of changing the shift pattern.
“I’m staggered we are prepared to go ahead with this, having seen the amount of people speaking out against it,” he said.
“Family life is important.”
He said the changes should be left to the next administration.
And Cllr Mark Mackenzie-Charrington (C, Stow-on-the-Wold) said the change of the start time would cause problems for those with children.
“I can see this disruption means getting children to school is going to be considerably more difficult,” he said.
“My great concern is we are going to lose a lot of single parents or female firefighters.”
He said the only reasonable solution he could see would be for the shift to start at 9am.
And Cllr Sajid Patel (C, Barton and Tredworth) said firefighters do their best for the people of Gloucestershire.
“If my employer said they would change the goalposts, the income would have on family life would be really challenging.
“Speaking from the heart here, I don’t think it’s the right thing to do.”
While Cllr Andrew Gravells (C, Abbey) questioned why there were so many people present at the meeting if fire chiefs claim they have consulted. He asked what the rush was to implement the changes.
“For goodness sake, let’s take a breather and take a look at this and see if we can come up with a more equal consensus.”
His comments were met with a huge round of applause.
During the meeting, fire, community safety and libraries cabinet member Dave Norman (C, Grange and Kingsway) tried to answer a question but was blocked by the chairman, Cllr Hilton.
Chief officer Mark Preece said they had listened to concerns and the changes are needed to address an inadequacy in the service.
Fire chiefs believe the changes meet the priorities of the community risk management plan which could improve the ability to have the right people in the right place to respond to emergencies, increase prevention and community safety initiatives and benefit the health and safety of firefighters.
The committee voted by six in favour with one abstention to call on the cabinet to abandon the planned shift changes.
Cllr Norman previously said that the change in firefighter shift patterns will improve efficiency and effectiveness and will ensure the fire and rescue service continues to keep communities safe.
A fire and rescue service spokesperson previously said: “Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service is extremely proud of its firefighters and the work they do supporting the most vulnerable in society.
“As a service we are committed to delivering an effective, efficient service aligned to the risk profile of the county, ensuring firefighter and community safety is at the heart of everything we do.
“We believe that the proposed changes to start and finish times will enhance our offer to the communities we serve.
“The changes to our shift start and finish times aligns us with other fire and rescue and emergency services to give best value to the public.
“We understand that change is unsettling, and we are committed to listening to all the feedback and actively reflecting on findings from the consultation; we are now engaging in a period of one to one meetings to understand any personal impacts whilst supporting colleagues through any changes.”
Gloucester News Centre – http://gloucesternewscentre.co.uk
Original post on the Gloucestershire News Centre website
Gloucestershire News Centre