Wanna Argument?
The Firefighters' Dispute: Fanning the Flames?
Are UK Firefighters Worse Off Than Their European Counterparts?
Yes and no! Not in terms of basic comparisons:
- After training a UK firefighter earns £21,000
- In France a trained firefighter earns £14,000
Also, the UK firefighter has a narrower set of duties than their French counterpart. French 'pompiers' also act as the ambulance service, they are all fully trained paramedics. As a result, French firefighters spend much less time waiting in the fire station to be called out.They're probably already out working!
The French, though, do work fewer hours than the British.
But when you work out payments for overtime, which firefighters receive as standard in Europe, you can make the opposite case. In the UK there are no overtime payments and no allowances paid for night and weekend working.
The effect of these payments and allowances is that after five years of service, British firefighters pay is overtaken by their colleagues in Denmark, the Republic of Ireland and Norway.
Despite this, firefighters in Germany and Belgium still earn less than those in the UK. This is not the issue, according to the FBU (who produced these figures). They point to the costs associated with living in the UK, especially in London, where they say their salaries are insufficient to pay even for accommodation.
It would be hard, though, to make a case for firefighters on this point and not do the same for other low paid public sector workers, such as teachers and health care professionals.