scotlibdems.org.uk — The Liberal Democrats, are leading the campaign in the House of Commons, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly to keep the right for key retained fire-fighters all across UK to opt out of the Working Time Directive - which threatens to limit their total weekly working time to 48 hours, including time spent on call.
Feb 17, 2009 View in Crawl 4
alexcanterburyFeb 17, 2009
Why would anyone NOT support this campaign to keep retained fire-fighters where we and they want to be - in the frontline keeping us, our families and our friends safe and sound?
megsdFeb 23, 2009
When bureaucracy stands in the way of common-sense, it must be challenged. Good work Lib Dems!
milstedFeb 23, 2009
I was a Retained Firefighter several centuries ago, and am now a member of the Dorset Fire Authority, where I lead on 'Community Safety' (and I'm a Lib Dem). 84% of Dorset's fire cover is by Retained Firefighters. Losing the opt-out would spell disaster for our communities; lives and property will certainly be lost if the opt-out is scrapped. The EU Working Time Directive is a classic example of a mostly-good idea that was never thought through. The EU Commission should now have the good sense to accept exceptions to it, and the UK Government must stand firm.
ddphilFeb 23, 2009
Seems that centralisation is the only thing the Government think about in their Westminster bunker. Why are they so against truely local services? It can't be money; they have enough to conduct two wars.
mickeybearFeb 23, 2009
What are our civil servants and Ministers doing? They increasingly seem to be sleeping on the job. This is precisely the sort of unintended consequence that should be picked up at the consultation stage... and there's the rub. This Government doesn't do true conssultation. All they are interested in is how much they can make for (New!) Labour Party coffers or how they can help their mates.
helenbellamyFeb 23, 2009
My father was a retained firefighter who was called up to full-time work during WW2. We NEED these guys to be available when fire strikes - are they supposed to sit at home refusing to attend a blaze because they've done their hours for the week?! - impossible madness
giangiFeb 24, 2009
I do not know in other countries, but in Italy we do not have part time firemen.
sharp1esFeb 26, 2009
I don't realy comprehend the Governments reasoning on this. All I know is retained fiefighters are part of the fire service and if it ain t broke don't fix it.