HR Update - New fire fighter posts in West Yorkshire !!!!

 Well OK, we confess there has only been ONE. 

Was it a "coal face firefighter" at  £28k a year 

NOPE

Was it  middle ranking officer at about  £50k a year 

NOT THAT EITHER 

The only recruitment that has taken place is for an 

Assistant Chief Fire Officer 

at a whopping  £120k plus 

figures from  WYFRA HR Committee 12th April 2013 

Now call us old fashioned but surely IF the number of stations is reducing, staff numbers being cut and  things according to Simon Pilling are all looking good, (fires down, smoke alarms saving people from burning buildings etc) 

Why do you need to replace an ACO?   

We know Martyns gone off  to play trains, a hobby he has pursued since being a teenager,  but  surely the top table should take a large dose of its own medicine and embrace the concept of not filling vacant posts due to retirement.  

Don't forget we are due another ACO retirement later in the year Craig McIntosh retires (and is  probably due to spend more time with his bagpipes) and then  Steve Rhodes hops into his  empty post on  July 1st 2013. This was all decided way back in September 2012. 

Perhaps its time to consider a 

"fundamental review"  of  the top table. 

Actually the HR report for April 12th is a cracking good read, and we will be blogging more about it the coming few days.Staff Cuts, job re profiling , compromise agreements, redundancies, compulsory and otherwise make shameful reading especially when this has all be implemented by a Labour controlled authority. 

Mind you Politicians also line their nests with money from the public purse,  we asked way back in September if people knew how much fire authority councillors receive as an allowance. And many councillors receive more than one allowance  from varying sources.  Click here to see what we wrote way back in Sept 2012. The chair of the fire authorities income is a fascinating read, he must have at least 30 hours in every day to pack it all in, and thats not counting the FOI investigation  he has been involved with recently! 

We are currently researching how much some of the WYFRA members get from the public purse to carry out their various duties.   It's quite an interesting  topic,  while  many of their constituents lose benefits, and get clobbered by bedroom taxes etc  politicians don't seem to be suffering at all ..............and the more "posts" you do, the more money you get. 

But surely the more you do 

 - the less time you give to each! 

Accountability & Openness

In the  Code of Conduct 

we found these two definitions 

ACCOUNTABILITY: Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.

OPENNESS: Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands.

So  as tomorrow is the last day of "consultation" we here at FCCL will be sending an email  next Monday to every member of the fire authority and senior members of the management team at WYFRS  asking them (in the spirit of openness and accountability of course ) what they have done in regard of promoting the consultation process. 

How many public / private meetings have they organised ?

How many public / private meetings have they attended ? 

How many emails  they have had from constituents in opposition (or favour) of the proposed cuts in provision?

But sadly we are prepared to be bitterly disappointed - we suspect that many will simply not reply - some such  as Cllr Gil Thornton & MP Hilary Benn will even show contempt and delete our emails unread.  (in which case we will have to FOI them for the information ). 

But it does already seem that deals are being done behind closed doors.............

BUT 

the tail you can see disappearing is that of the station cat at Haworth  -  station cat reported that last night her fire station had a very special visitor, its so interesting we have posted the whole message below.  

"Deputy Chief Steve Beckley at Haworth last night; Told them that Keighley is to lose a pump in April and Haworth will be staying open for the time being. What happened to the consultation process? Mr Beckley is the Deputy who has taken his pension but stayed on, so he now gets £60,000 salary and £60,000 pension, taking him back up to his original £120,000. He will also be drawing interest on his half a million lump sum at the same time, so another £10,000 there. Could he be the best part time employee in the county? "

YES - we think he probably is !!!
(this scheme is NOT open to ordinary fire fighters btw) 


With information like this - its no wonder we at FCCL get cross - we have of course emailed Simon Pilling to ask if this is TRUE - for a start was DFO Beckley at Keighley last night would be a good place to start.   


BUT it seems that deals are already being done ------  without the consultation process even finishing..................   


anyway for nearly the last time (well till next year) 



IF YOU OBJECT TO THE CUTS PLEASE

Email Hannah Stoneman (HERE) 

(And don’t forget to copy in your MP, 

Local Councillor, 

Fire authority members, 

see the Contacts list for their E-mail addresses HERE

Or Write to her Here:-

Hannah Stoneman

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

Oakroyd Hall

Bradford Road

Birkenshaw

West Yorkshire

BD11 2DY