View Poll Results: Will they strike?

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  • Yes

    4 44.44%
  • No

    2 22.22%
  • Maybe

    2 22.22%
  • Doubt it, there all saps.

    1 11.11%
Results 1 to 22 of 22
  1. #1
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    Jun 2002
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    Firefighters strike?

    Do you think firefighters in the UK will go on strike?.
    I don't think they will but i will say that i thought there would have been some sort of back of for this event but from what i hear there is not just a few old army trucks.
    Professor of crime at St Andrews university.

  2. #2
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    They put their lives at risk for a poxy 21g's that sucks! A bus driver in london gets paid the same - that is not right!

  3. #3
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    What do you do if you dont like the pay where you are working??

    You leave and look for another job, Yeah, they may be on low pay but they chose to accept the job, they should go find another job if they want to get paid more.

    I dont see why they protest and strike over it, they chose to work therem they should choose to leave and find alternate employment if they dont like the pay, thats what i done where i used to work, i left because i wanted more money, i didnt moan to them about how much i was on i just left !!
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  4. #4
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    I have the utmost respect for anyone who works in emergency services... I know the local ambulance station staff very well so I get to hear details about some of the calls they go to. Just them telling the story turns my stomach!

    These people save lives every day and get a crap wage like that when we have fat cat boses getting offered 1.5m every year for the rest of their lives!!! Especially fire fighters who literally risk their lives every day!!!

    If this is the only way they can get that extra money that they deserve - I know I wouldn't risk my life every day for 21g - then I fully support them.
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  5. #5
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    Sep 2002
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    What for they will go on strike? Salaries?

  6. #6
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    Aug 2002
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    They probably will go on strike. I remember the last strike when the "Green Goddess" fire engines were around (I was only a kid.....honest).

    When they want about a 50% increase in salary, and they are being offered 4% with change in working conditions, then I think the outcome is inevitable.

  7. #7
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    Long Island NY has the countries largest community of volunteer firefighters. And they do it for free. Many in Brooklyn and Queens also help out in Nassau.

    Starting salary for FDNY is $33k (exl optional fringe) which is equivilant to 21222 Pounds. Consider the cost of living in some rural places of the UK and even London compared to living in Manhatten and it seems that 21k isnt half bad.

    Newsday Article 2-22-02 (reprinted in NY Times)
    Long Island ranks as the third most expensive area, ahead of Boston and Los Angeles and behind San Francisco, according to a report by ACCRA, an economic and community development research organization that compiles market basket cost indices.

    Manhattan's housing numbers keep the city in its No. 1 spot: A 1,000-square-foot apartment in Manhattan costs 500 percent more than a 1,000-square-foot place in Houston or Baltimore.

    ...

    New York is not only the most expensive city in the United States, but it also ranked second most expensive city in the world for a U.S. expatriate household, according to an August 2001 U.S. government report. Tokyo came in first, and London, Hong Kong and Singapore followed New York in third, fourth and fifth places.
    I guess the FDNY needs a raise as well.

    And if they strike, so what? Thats what happens when people dont get what they want and the gov't spends its tax dollars some place else.

    Unfortunetly there are laws here preventing certain professions from striking.

  8. #8
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    That's a fair comment xtstrike... and I know if I wanted more money and I couldn't get it from where I currently work I'd go elsewhere. But these people feel a responsibility to do their job and give 110% every day of the year.

    I know one paramedic who has for as long as I've known him (15 years) wanted to become a paramedic. Everything he's done got him one step closer until 4 years ago he became a paramedic. It's this type of people who do these jobs... it's this kind of devotion to the job you can never pay for.

    I wouldn't even think about working on Xmas day... his rota last year meant he was doing a 12 hr shift on Xmas day - he had no concerns about doing this... it was his job. It's these people you rely on even when it's a public holiday, you don't even give them a second thought until you need them and they will always be there.

  9. #9
    there has been strikes by the fire fighters before. there will be again. for as long as the conservatives and new labour aka the conservatives continue to waste money and direct it towards complete crap instead of investing in where its needed.
    yes the army will take the strain.their green goddesses may be old but they work just fine. theres no danger to safety.
    --
    Rich

  10. #10
    xstrike, thats rediculous man. these people train to become firefighters, why should they retrain as the govt has a monopoly in effect. theres no other fireservice they can go work for.in terms you can understand. imagine there was only one hosting company \ isp \ computing company. and you trained to become a computer tech, then find out they stiff you on the wages. what do you do? retrain? nope too expensive, do the same job for someone else? nope no one else does it, its a monopoly. they have no option but to strike.
    --
    Rich

  11. #11
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    certain types of jobs can afford to pay a certain amount of money, its the way it always has been and the way it will always be.

    i know people that have trained to do a particular type of job then found it doesnt pay enough and retrained, you ask enough people in the computer industry and you will find some have retrained from a different industry that they may have been in 10 years because it doesnt pay enough.
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  12. #12
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    I have said it before and I will say it again.. Take some of that friggin money you waste on all these sports players and give the firemen what they want.. I personally think they should start between 80-100k a year they have about the toughest job out there and they are willing to work for pennies for what they do.. Hell 21k a year is about what you will make here in the US flipping burgers..

  13. #13
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    OKIHost, the difference with sports players is the public are funding their pay by buying sports gear.

    I take it you would mind another $5 a week coming out of your wages to pay for their pay rise? because thats who pays them.

    the best way to pay the firemen more would be to decrease taxation levels for firemen.
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  14. #14
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    Dec 2001
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    Talking of retraining...I am retraining from the computer industry...because that no longer pays....!

    Anyway...Neds initial post

    Fire fighters, Ambulance, Police, Nurses, School Teachers, Military, Utilities...all worth at least 30K a year....in my opinion anyway.


    Simon

  15. #15
    the firefighters have a union and its there to protect everyone. basically the entire force will strike to protect the older firemen who lets face it would not get a job elsewhere and do not have the means to retrain. the computing industry pays damn well. firefighting does not and peoples blatant lack of respect for the hard work they do for little money is sick to the core.
    they deserve to be paid far more. theyre not asking the earth, just that they arent stiffed permanently. if you were on a measily 21k a year you wouldnt be able to retrain, even on a graduate mortgage you wouldnt get a mortgage on a house more then 75k. thats nothing these days. the london fire brigades tend to sleep in the stations during the week and live well outside london at the weekends. thats dedication and theyre being rewarded with a kick in the balls. some thanks your showing for them protecting you.
    --
    Rich

  16. #16
    speaking of salaries, my mum just trained to be a nurse after leaving pyschology. she got about 6k a year to train and her starting salary is 15k. i darent mention i earned in excess of that part time while at uni and still earn more now, and will continue to do so while i complete my 2nd degree. she slogs her guts out working 12 hr shifts and is well trained like all the other staff. its disgusting that i can earn more then she can by putting in a 20 hr weeks sat on my ass lookin sexy and being clever. teachers are slightly different. their wage pro rata should be high, but for the amount of time off etc, and the fact they spend it being paid extra to mark exam papers etc. i dont doubt a lot of teachers work damn hard in difficult conditions. but id hate to see teachers like my mates mum getting rewarded to well. shes a lazy whining mare who works 9-4 and has long holidays and does feck all the kids are all about 7 and at a posh school . man she'd die if she was a nurse.
    the services need to be paid more , a lot more. a less jags in the consultants car park, a few less managers and a few more k for the poor underclasses.
    --
    Rich

  17. #17
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    Jun 2002
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    Originally posted by SimonMc
    Talking of retraining...I am retraining from the computer industry...because that no longer pays....!

    Anyway...Neds initial post

    Fire fighters, Ambulance, Police, Nurses, School Teachers, Military, Utilities...all worth at least 30K a year....in my opinion anyway.


    Simon
    Firefighters well i don't know, i think they should get payed as much as the police. Nurses should get paid well. school teachers shouldn't, the military you mean soldiers? well soldiers these days are useless, they don't do anything.
    Professor of crime at St Andrews university.

  18. #18
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    Originally posted by ned patter
    school teachers shouldn't
    That sort of thinking was exactly the problem that caused a shortage of teachers in inner city schools in New York.

    Originally posted by ned patter
    the military you mean soldiers? well soldiers these days are useless, they don't do anything.
    Ah yes, England, a card carrying member of the UN. What a lovly organization that is.

    The issue is people want to get paid a decent salary. Others are greedy. It comes down to how much you are willing to pay someone before they leave and than you have the issue of trying to find someone to replace them. And if you do find someone, it is frequently someone less talented, less educated, and it uually comes back to bite you in your ass.

    If the teachers strike, who teaches the children? Are you saying that becuase teachers dont deserve to get paid well, that you are OK with an education strike and the fact that childen will not be going to school?

  19. #19
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    I think they will strike, they have another 6 weeks until the final vote now.
    I wouldn't put my life at risk each day for what they get paid.......they do have a responsibility 2 protect peoples lives however the government has the responsibility to make sure they get paid appropriately.

  20. #20
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    Jun 2000
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    Its simple really.. take the fire depts out of the hands of government, privatize it. Just like insurance is. Competition makes the world go round. Most people pay outrageously large fire dues anyways each year... so might as well pay that to a company who handles the fires and pays their people well...


    Hmmm... maybe thats the next great business idea... ^_^
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  21. #21
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    Wow, I didn't know that NY firemen made so little. I thought pay would be tied somewhat to the standard of living. Firefighters start at $30, 000.00 per year in my tiny town. That said, what was the waiting period to become a NY firefighter prior to 9/11 .. years right? I don't feel terribly sorry for them (where pay is concerned, of course).

  22. #22
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    Mar 2002
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    Westbury, LI NY
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    Not years. They hire people on an annual basis. Tests are given out, physical exams, etc etc. Its an annual process that is repeated every year. It makes no sense fincially for the FDNY to do it any other way. This is not like a normal job where you go on maybe two interviews and pee in a cup. Many jobs working for NY are the same, tests are offered on an annual basis. That way every applicant is taken care of all at once in one shot.

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