Money for Nothing, but you Quit for free!

Living your life in the public domain is for  some people  a way of life. Many newspapers and magazines thrive because members of the public wish to read lots of mindless and facile stuff about "celebrities"  (Although to be fair Dr's surgeries would be dead boring without reading materials like that, even if they are several years out of date.)

Let's be clear, we aren't averse to a spot of gossip, to use the appropriate cliché  "there's no smoke without fire"  There has been a certain dismissal recently, which in our opinion (with only a few selective titbits at our disposal) should have most definitely resulted in one of these

                  To claim  or not to claim, that is the question!

But ended in this .........

 

 

However we understand that particular amount, although totalling  more that a chief fire officer gets (we won't say earn)  in a week is small fry compared to the whopping £42,000 that Jim Andrews, the Chair of South Yorkshire happily handed over to several senior staff during a period of perfectly legal industrial action by the Fire Brigades Union. We could rabbit on about the who, what and where but this has had a significant amount of coverage in the press.  Bottom line is these people were contracted to work whatever hours were required of them and had no provision for overtime payments in their contracts. If do you fancy having a read at the shameful episode this article gives a good explanation of why we and many other people are campaigning for Cllr Andrews and CFO Courtney to resign.  

 

But lets put all that aside and take a more in depth view of the man who made the decision to pay the "overtime" - Cllr James Gregory Andrews, BEM If you click on his name it will take you to his declaration of pecuniary interests, we are interested in particular his declaration under para 2d - Body whose principle purpose is to influence public opinion or policy. 

 

 

A spot of amateur handwriting analysis clearly shows he is much fonder of the LABOUR PARTY than UNITE the union, in which union doesn't warrant the use of uppercase and sort of trails off into the distance, but it is UNITE and Cllr Andrews membership of it that made us howl with laughter - the man is in our opinion clearly a hypocrite of the highest order.

 

Let us show you our reasoning below

 

 

UNITE are very clear on the subject of FOI's - in fact they wrote a response to the Independent Commission for FOI's call for evidence (20 Nov 2015)

  

Unless you are a Labour chair of South Yorkshire FRS !!!!

So come on Jim you know you want to resign really !

 

It seems bizarre that a councillor who publicly allies himself to the biggest Trades Union in the country would covertly give thousands in payments to management to basically break a lawful strike !

 

When an audit revealed -

 

...... the payments, which officers received for working during strikes over the last two years, were withheld from public scrutiny because they were considered too “sensitive”.

and that FOI approving UNITE Union man Cllr Jim Andrews

 PERSONALLY APPROVED THE SECRET PAYMENTS

 

Now we do know he isn't a fan of democracy as he recently blocked a proposal to have a vote of confidence in......yes you guessed it

 

HIMSELF.... 

 

And from the horse's mouth Neill Carbutt, Brigade Secretary of the South Yorks FBU

 

"He stopped a question and statement from us (the FBU) on our position of no confidence in him and chief... He stopped Barnsley trade council speaking, Yorkshire post and a member of public. Apparently he could as he's the chair?"

Is this a man that UNITE the UNION wish to have in their ranks as a Brother ?

 

A man who conceals payments, refuses to allow perfectly reasonable questions at PUBLIC meetings, declines questions from the legitimate press  (gawd knows what they all get up to in private!)

 

 

 

But for now it appears Cllr Andrews is wearing a coat made from

 

 

As things sure as hell aren't sticking to him......

 

But we reckon that might not be the answer, personally we consider the fact that shortly after he very kindly gave Courtney and Co extra money he was awarded the BRITISH EMPIRE MEDAL and if you read the announcement it is very specific

 

Councillor James Gregory ANDREWS

Deputy Leader, Barnsley Metropolitan Council and Chairman,

 South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority.

 

For services to Local Government.

 

 

It was awarded in the

New Years Honours of 2015 !!! 

 

It's not us is it?

 

Do you also smell a

 

 

 

To date Cllr Andrat (whoops sorry,  we mean Andrews) has apologised but steadfastly refuses to resign as does CFO Courtney.

We think this is the ultimate insult to the FBU and members of the public

 

 

WHY????

 

 

 

Tomorrow we will write more regarding the Seven Principles of Public Life  something else that appears to have disappeared without trace recently.

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 



 

Fire Engines to be replaced with VW Caddy Vans

Here at FCCL we have had issues before with small vans  replacing Fire Engines, in fact one of our poetic masterpieces was "Simon Had an FRU" which if you fancy a constructive and informative giggle is available here 

But today at FCCL HQ the red mist descended when we were sent an email from ACO Rhodes to his staff in regard to the periods of legitimate Industrial Action taking place by the FBU over the next 8 days. 

Lets be honest here we have seen and heard some stupid things that senior officers have done  but this one most definitely takes the West Yorkshire Tax Payers biscuit 

Below is the email  in its entirety 

Between the periods of industrial action (IA) that are taking place from the 14th to the 21st July 2014, a decision has been made not to return appliances to their home stations as has previously been the case. 

  

Therefore, some crews will not have an appliance available for the duration of this series of IA periods and consideration has been given as to how to utilise these crews.   

They have been provided with a VW Caddy van which has adequate storage space for community safety fitting equipment and small ladder, which should be stored in the vehicle for the duration of these IA periods. There is also adequate storage space for the crew’s fire kit.

This will enable Home Fire Safety Checks, Operational Risk Visits and other activities to be carried out by personnel whilst enabling crews to be recalled for operational deployment if required.

During the day shift, crews will be allocated one of two tasks:

1. Carry out HFSC’s, Operational Risk Visits, training and maintenance within their own station ground

2. Carry out a targeted risk reduction campaign in the Dewsbury/Batley areas

To aid planning, a rota for daily tasking has been developed so that crews know which tasks they are to undertake.

During the night shift, crews are expected to perform tasks as normal including administrative tasks, training, E-learning or risk visits.

Again where necessary, crews may be recalled to FSHQ for operational deployment.

ACO S Rhodes Silver Commander

AND below Steve is our response. 

Between the periods of industrial action (IA) that are taking place from the 14th to the 21st July 2014, a decision has been made not to return appliances to their home stations as has previously been the case.  Really - who made that decision and where is it documented, Are the councillors on the Fire Authority aware of this ? 

Therefore, some crews will not have an appliance available for the duration of this series of IA periods and consideration has been given as to how to utilise these crews. Many of West Yorks Stations consist of just one or two pumps. Will this mean that some stations HAVE NO FIRE ENGINE AT ALL!!!! What about retained stations, will there  be pumps at these. 

They have been provided with a VW Caddy van which has adequate storage space for community safety fitting equipment and small ladder, which should be stored in the vehicle for the duration of these IA periods. There is also adequate storage space for the crew’s fire kit.

This will enable Home Fire Safety Checks, Operational Risk Visits and other activities to be carried out by personnel whilst enabling crews to be recalled for operational deployment if required. So lets get this straight, if there is an incident, you get back in your van and drive to FSHQ to pick up a pump to go back to an incident !!!!!!!!  

During the day shift, crews will be allocated one of two tasks:

1. Carry out HFSC’s, Operational Risk Visits, training and maintenance within their own station ground.   BUT what happens if there is an incident - surely this will increase response times even more. 

And correct me if i am wrong BUT DONT YOU NEED A PUMP AND ALL ITS KIT TO TRAIN WITH ??????? 

2. Carry out a targeted risk reduction campaign in the Dewsbury/Batley areas. 

Ahh yes we know about Dewsbury and Batley  - the stations you decided to close and commented that it must be ok because nobody bothered to respond. Nobody bothered because WYFRS and shame on them the Councillors in those wards didnt care enough to consult with their constituents. Setting Batley FS a target of a 1,000 extra  HFSC this year was pretty unachievable without some serious intervention, we did wonder how you were going to pull that one off! 

To aid planning, a rota for daily tasking has been developed so that crews know which tasks they are to undertake. Such as . Wash floors, clean windows and change station cats litter trays maybe!  We understand the  strike breaking scabs leave quite an odour behind. 

During the night shift, crews are expected to perform tasks as normal including administrative tasks, training, E-learning or risk visits.  

ooh lets think about this one,  yet again no pump = no cover. And although we dont doubt you have spent many a night swotting at your companies expense  we would prefer our crews to be within a short sprint of a  pump. 

Again where necessary, crews may be recalled to FSHQ for operational deployment. 

You call it operational deployment - we call them fires and  road traffic accidents and we know you are being grossly irresponsible  by taking away pumps from competent, experienced crews.  

ACO S Rhodes Silver Commander

Bless - nothing like throwing your weight about is there ?  

ACO Rhodes would have been quite sufficient.  But we know you like to feel important. So we shall join you and sign off 

Lets make it perfectly clear - the email above puts every citizen in West Yorkshire at significant risk.  The strikes are for two sets of two hours per day. Senior Officers at WYFRS have  chosen to put the county at risk for the other  TWENTY as well.   

So we have a little bit of advice for every fire fighter who does a risk assesment or Home Fire Safety Check in the next week. Tell people why you are doing them, explain about ACO Rhodes removing pumps from stations and when they are outraged give them his phone  number and suggest they give him a call. 

Assistant Chief Officer/Director of Service Support

Steve Rhodes

01274 655734   |   steve.rhodes@westyorksfire.gov.uk

Dear Simon .............Just a little note to say

Just a little note to say

Your staff won't be at work today

So try your very bestest to

Watch facebook, twitter, our blog too

And 

of course don't  leave any cameras running on pumps, RTC wedges in doors and make sure there are no mobile phone cameras about when your scabs mess things up.




Lots of love   FCCL 

For Sale

Its not often you get items like this on the market.

Excellent condition - A GPS Tracker used by West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue.

Do you have employees you want to spy on: FBU officials you need to keep track of? 

Need to make sure senior officers stay at their desks during periods of industrial action scouring facebook and twitter for subversive posts and don't go AWOL ?

As the person who found this tracker now wants to dispose of it - no reasonable offer will be refused.

Oh bugger it we can't resist HANDBAG GATE  take a peep and what happened next ..........

Come on Dave the suspense is killing me

If you have ever wondered what Assistant Chief Fire Officers do as a hobby, apart from play with trains, rifle through handbags  and play bagpipes; we can now reveal that ACO Dave Walton takes pictures of fire hydrants that look like pineapples.

This is he assures us the first in an occasional series,

we wait Dave with bated breath, is the best yet to come?

The first in an occasional series of images of Fire Hydrants that look like pineapples. Part 2 to follow soon... pic.twitter.com/ToAc8OAggk
— Dave Walton (@ACOWestYorkFire) June 23, 2014

If of course any of our followers see any pineapply hydrants why not take a piccie and  send it to Dave - we are confident he will be chuffed to bits.

But whilst we are on the topic of photos, here is one that is much more serious.

We've been sent this by an occupier in a block of flats who was concerned about the response they received to a fire in their building during the ongoing strike action. This is what happens when the incompetent officers who break the strike leave equipment behind, meaning the whole building was susceptible to smoke logging and  fire spread which will block everyone's escape.

The RTC wedge was left in the fire door for over 26 hours before being removed!

 

Calculating Your Holiday Pay.

Just a quickie this evening !  

No - please don't try , honest it's not a good idea! 

There have been a few postings on Facebook recently about West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

miscalculating holiday pay lost due to sickness. 

For information we are showing below the 

NEW  Calculation 

The current formula used by the  Finance department is annual
payments divided by 182.5 and multiply the number of days outstanding.

and the OLD Calculation 

4 weekly payments divided by 28 and multiplied by the number of days
outstanding.  

So if you have recently left WYFRS check 

your final payments.

Any queries,we are sure your local FBU rep will advise.

Please note this is for WEST YORKSHIRE only - we do not know if it applies to other brigades. 

If you do get any back dated pay do let us know.

And finally  a quick thank you to Mark Hamilton for requesting this calculation by a Freedom of Information request in 

November 2013. 

Time to be very selfish ................

To the many people who read this blog - the majority of whom support the Fire Brigades Union, it is time to be called to

ACTION

 

 

 

Tomorrow we will be announcing the details of  a virtual demonstration in support of the FBU and more importantly those in the FBU who stand up, speak out and are currently being investigated by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue . Our recent post got over 18,000 views in 24 hrs. For tomorrows post we need that 18,000 views  and many, many more.

 

Although we appreciate that many who are being investigated are not willing to be involved in a public way Fire Fighter and FBU activist Lee Indriks has nailed his colours to the mast  and publicly stated he is being investigated for liking a picture on Facebook. And guess what has happened? He is now being investigated for speaking publicly about what is happening to him.

Lee Indriks - Social Media Martyr
West Yorks FBU  

 

 

 

It is time to demonstrate to Chief Fire Officer Simon Pilling that the persecution and prevention of free speech will not be tolerated.

 

 

 

Watch this Space

 

 

and  in order to be prepared for tomorrow - get out your mobile and take a selfie on your phone. You are going to need it.

 

West Yorks FCDA - we look forward to recording YOU hitting our site tomorrow. :-)   (google analytics is a wonderful thing)

 

 

 



div style="text-align: center;">

The SS - Socialmedia Surveillance at WYFRS

We have been aware for well over a year now that West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue watch our  FCCL and personal FaceBook Pages.   My personal favourite was Group Manager Richard Veti saying to the then Brigade Membership Secretary David Williams "We know what sort of books she reads"  At the time Dave thought we had been rumbled in regard of our attempt to get Gipton Fire Station listed as I was reading books about the history of the fire service and volumes of old watch minutes. But what he actually meant was he had read a blog I had written about my local book club reading "50 Shades of Grey"  Then Andy Killingbeck an ill health  retired firefighter  was dragged in for a pension review and WYFRS cited articles on facebook  as a reason they considered him now fit for work.......... and refused to give the names of officers that had "brought it to managements attention" but as that is still under investigation we cant say much about it. It also came into the public domain that WYFRS had actually ordered surveillance on employees by private investigation companies and that Anthea Orchards car had a tracking device attached to it. And this is the stuff we know about !!!!!! What has gone on that has been undiscovered?

When FCCL was just getting into full swing in November 2012 and get loads of hits WYFRS  reissued their Social Media Policy to all staff. So we have always known we have been watched ......................................

BUT RECENTLY WE HAVE BECOME CONCERNED THAT IT HAS GOT OUT OF HAND

 

 

We have had it confirmed that several  serving employees a(and high profile FBU members) are been investigated and potentially disciplined because they have been spotted "liking" pictures and / or articles on Facebook. A header used on West Yorkshire Fire Brigades Unions Facebook page is one of the offending pictures that has been "liked".

 

 

 

 

There is also the issue of picket lines - like many other Fire and Rescue Services WYFRS have banned the wearing of tunics whilst on picket lines and also banned the lighting of braziers. Now correct me if I am wrong - if ANYBODY knows how to supervise a lit  brazier a set of competent and qualified firefighters are probably as good as it gets.

 

 

So we would like you to share this handy information leaflet below- to show your disgust at the underhand and most likely illegal practise of monitoring FBU members social media postings. Freedom of Expression is enshrined in European Law.

 

 

Want to be disciplined ?  Wear your tunic and light a (controlled) fire.
Then blog, facebook and tweet and wait for the phone call from Simon P and Co.

 

 

The Strike

We here at FCCL will be supporting the

Fire Brigades Union Strike Tomorrow.

That's a bit of a "No Shit Sherlock" moment for most of our readers.

 

 

 

 

 

But it's because we don't want to see this happen

 

 

 

 

We wish everybody who is withdrawing their labour for four hours tomorrow the very best of ........

well we would say luck but we reckon the scab labour that is being brought in as

cover will need all of that. 

 

 

 

 

To Tweet or not to Tweet ?

Today FCCL went for a coffee and a welsh rarebit ( #aspirationalcheeseontoast ) with a lady we much admire, Anthea Orchard. We have been in touch for a while now with her  and have watched this weeks events unfold with interest (and a very unusual silence that some of you may have observed). 

Many comments in FCCL circles have said "if you knew, why didn't you blog it?" and  I have to admit I was seriously tempted BUT we  figured for such a serious allegation (which we hadn't had corroborated by anybody else) a face to face meeting was essential before any tapping of keyboards took place. Anyway today FCCL and Anthea met for the first, and we sincerely hope not the last time! And as it turns out we have a lot in common. (Under active thyroids and pet rabbits for a start). 

Having read a few of the WYFRS papers and emails  in depth ,  that Anthea has showed us, it seems some employees in WYFRS have nothing better to do with our tax payers money than to trawl face book for allegedly errant employees who heaven forbid have facebook pages. Are they working without permission or perhaps bringing WYFRS into dispute? It seems that as well as social media in WYFRS eyes it's Anti Social Media.

Although it seems to FCCL that WYFRS senior  managers seem to be doing a damn fine job of being anti social themselves recently.  Simon "no comment" Pilling could probably do with coming out of his ivory training  tower instead of peeking over the battlements and chucking the occasional AC/DC O to the crowd. Although many claim that Simon has completely lost the plot in all of this and actually WYFRS is currently a rudderless ship!



We  can't help but wonder as Anthea was exonerated of the allegations AND  received a payment for damages, if WYFRS employees (all views expressed are their own of course) will be reprimanded for posting negative comments in the social media world about an ex colleague.  We give an example on the left from a WYFRS current employee.

Don't know about anybody else but I find the #attentionseeking  hashtag in particular offensive!

How do we know he is a WYFRS employee? As an avid twitterer he actually tweets he is at Birkenshaw HQ !







Gary, bless him also seems to  revel in the fact that Anthea openly admitted on national TV  to being full of oestrogen when the events took place resulting in the  application for authority for directed surveillance that  was instigated by recently retired ACO Martyn Redfearn.

Well Gary, if you despise  women  whose hormones are all over the place because  they have recently given birth; you should have thought twice before really annoying a MENOPAUSAL ONE who runs a blog!

 

Anyway (windows 8 permitting ) we will be back  tomorrow with a post  "Rhodes to Nowhere". Well actually we think that ACO Rhodes may shortly be up a rather  dirty waterway without an appropriate method of propulsion to move him forward.  #redfacesallround  - maybe!  

Dear Ed and Councillors .............

Dear  Mr Balls ,

We understand that  you are meeting with the Chief Fire Officer Simon Pilling to discuss the proposals  that Morley Fire Station is "day crewed"  from January 2014.

So FCCL as concerned individuals would just like to share the following information with you all of which we believe will demonstrate that WYFRS senior management are not using sound management techniques but lurching from pillar to post in the management of WYFRS.


LETS START WITH A WORD MENTIONED 23 times in the 2012/13 IRMP

re·sil·ience

  [ri-zil-yuhns, -zil-ee-uhns]

noun

1.

the power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, overstretched; elasticity.

2.

ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyancy.

On Thursday 18th of July WYFRS 

 were so overstretched  their 

resilience plans were invoked. 

WYFRS required FIVE RESILIENCE PUMPS 

TO BE OPERATIONAL 

Recall to duty is purely voluntary. They send everyone available a text message saying that if they want the overtime  they are then to get to a certain destination within an hour ready to go. (remember too every appliance MUST HAVE a qualified driver and crew manager) 

All 5 resilience pumps were mobilised, although none where mobilised within the allocated 1 hour

First resilience pump mobilised within 1 and half hours       the fifth one took 3 hours!!

Some pumps also were running 

with just 4 crew !

So Mr Balls we at FCCL think that closing fire stations and removing crews  is wrong, if it takes THREE  HOURS to staff resilience engines that WYFRS rely heavily on in their documentation. Its all talk ....... 

AND HERE ARE A FEW MORE INACCURACIES THEY HAVE WRITTEN .........

.........Further proposals will be presented to WYFRA in future years, however it is not anticipated that these will involve any further new builds prior to 2016.   

(SO WHY DID HE DECIDE TO CLOSE 3 MORE STATIONS    (including Morley) and build 2 new ones  a year later? 


And about Moortown in the 2012 /13 IRMP 

...........WYFRS’ commitment to providing an excellent and efficient service has informed the proposal to introduce an innovative way of providing an emergency response service within the area of Moortown and Leeds District. Instead of continuing to provide two front line fire appliances WYFRS will replace one of them with a Fire Response Unit which will be capable of providing a faster response to smaller incidents across Leeds District. This will maximise the availability of front line fire appliances for life and property incidents.

YET IN JUST ONE YEAR  MOORTOWN GOES FROM BEING A KEY "HUB"  TO CLOSED. 

(we have firm opinions of FRU's read them  here) 

ROTHWELL Fire Station  ---- April 2012 

 “It is unnecessary to stress the operational advantages and the need for speed in responding to emergency calls as in many situations even seconds count when lives and property are in danger. The current proposals for Rothwell are operationally more desirable as it contains all the activities associated with the fire station within the site, and ensures that staff are located as close as possible to the station to ensure fast response times.”


Yet in September  2012 it seems Rothwell was to close ( we blogged about the proposed close call plans in October 2012) And then they suddenly decided it could be day crewed!


And what about Day Crewing? 

Day Crewing

Day Crewing is a duty system contained within firefighters' national 

terms and conditions, however, any move on to this system is 

voluntary, as it requires staff to live within  5 minutes of the station.  

Firefighters are suitably recompensed with an on-call allowance, 

turnout fees and rent/fuel allowance.  In theory, there are sufficient staff  living within the 5 minute zone at all stations proposed to change to the Day Crewing system but further work is required to establish interest in working this duty system.

We are told time and time again that crews are not willing to day crew and we understand that volunteers are not queueing to sign on the dotted line. So what WYFRS say in theory cannot be transferred to practice. We wrote about it here 

So Ed we wish you luck in your dealing with CFO Pilling -  and whatever you do take detailed notes as you will  no doubt need them to remind Simon of what he has said. Because if we the community don't win this fight we think at some point our words written way back in September 2012 will come back to haunt him. 

Kindest Regards
FireCutsCostLives 

Simple Simon* met a fireman looking at a fire

Said simple Simon* to the fire man, “those flames are getting higher”

Said the fire man to simple Simon*  “we haven’t got a hope

Those IRMP plans you passed are really not a joke”

 Said simple Simon*to the fireman –“ I don’t know what you mean

These cuts in staff and engines, it will make us slick and lean!”

Said the fire man to simple Simon* – “oh no you’ve got it wrong

With increased tavel time and less staff too –  soon it will go all wrong”

This fire will spread,   we have no staff to help us  put it out

These cuts you love will kill a child,  the politicians shout

“It wasn’t us it, was that man – he told us what to do

And Simon* got it wrong it seems  – and now what shall we do?”

If Simon* wasn’t simple but a decent man with faith

We  wouldn’t have to write this poem  (And our homes would  all be safe!)