SIPTU says “the silence from Government” has forced firefighters to escalate their strike.
On-call members of the fire service first started industrial action on June 6th in a dispute over the low level of pay and restrictive conditions of the job.
In an escalation of that strike, all retained fire stations will “go dark” from 8 o’clock this Saturday morning – meaning crews will have no internal communications with local authority radio call centres.
SIPTU members have also vowed to close one station in each county every week, if a resolution is not found by Saturday 19th August.
Tom Kitterick from Westport Fire Station and chair of SIPTU’s National Negotiating Committee says the gravity of the issue cannot be understated:
