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Ennis fire-fighters set for strike action

This article is from page 17 of the 2007-12-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG

CLARE County Council is bracing itself for a fire-fighters strike and has drawn up a contingency plan in case personnel in Ennis go ahead with the threatened action.

The Labour Relations Commission has already intervened in the dispute which could still see fire-fighters at the county’s busiest fire station go on strike before Christmas. Both sides met at LRC convened conciliation talks last Thursday but the meeting broke up without resolution.

The council was issued with strike notice last week by SIPTU, follow- ing claims that the local authority has breached agreements and refused to agree to the appointment of an arbi- trator to resolve long-standing issues.

SIPTU’s Clare County and Health Service Branch Organiser, Tony Kenny said, ““We have issued notice of official industrial action regarding our members of the Retained Fire Service in Ennis. We believe that in recent dealings, Clare County Coun- cil have breached agreements in spirit and content, transgressed the line of natural justice and put undue pressure on our members.”

Clare County Council’s Director of Services, Mr Ger Dollard said, the threat of action remains in place and formal notice is being taken ser1- ously.

“We are proceeding with contin- gency plans which will be in place

in the event of industrial action aris- ing. We have also sought engagement from SIPTU in relation to essential

cover which is a requirement under the LRC – Disputes Procedures for Essential Services.”

“The council participated in over two and a half hours of discussions on Thursday last, facilitated by the

LRC. On Friday, the council received notification from SIPTU indicating that the notice for industrial action would not now expire until Decem- ber 18,’ Mr Dollard added,

Ennis fire station, the largest and busiest in Clare, is a part-time serv- ice which responded to 570 calls last year alone in a catchment area with a population of 60,000 people. SIPTU also believes that the issue of provid- ing ‘day manning’ or making Ennis a full-time service also needs to be looked at.

At any one time, nine of the sta- tion’s 15 part-time personnel are on call, which only leaves six positions free for all staff to share for time-off, holidays, sick leave, course leave and special time. That complement has recently been reduced to 13, with one person on leave and another relieved of duty because he has not yet passed his truck-driving test.

Both sides are expected to meet again in the coming days under the auspices of the LRC and SIPTU spokesman, Tony Kenny also con- firmed that at the request of the LRC, the union has agreed to extend the expiry date for industrial action until December 18.

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