Items on the agenda include -

• Salary Scheme latest
• Camborne / Redruth / Hayle developments
• Election of Officials
• AOB

Please let us know any other topics you would like to add, all stations are encouraged to send a representative.

Any delay is being attributed to other FRS not supplying data in time.

AM Walker has offered to meet to discuss these issues in detail and explore possible solutions. The WTD On-Call contracts have alredy been agreed and this also affects some of the fine detail and salary structure as well as pay rates.

More to follow….

This process has taken over 10 years to reach its conclusion and whilst there is a compensation payment included in the settlement, no-one should forget that this process began for us when ‘THE PART-TIME WORKERS (Prevention Of Less Favourable Treatment Regulations 2000)’, came into force on 1st July 2000, our main objective then, as now, was to bring about equality of treatment for retained firefighters.

Credit is due to my predecessor Derek Chadbon who was in post at the time; Derek fully understood the implications for retained firefighters within the new regulations and was quick to act on our members’ behalf. It is a matter of record that the RFU was the first Fire Service union to submit applications under the regulations and commenced submitting claims on our members’ behalf in July 2000 followed eventually by the FBU who first submitted claims in December 2000.

Through this bulletin we would also wish to record our thanks to Managing Partner Andrew Barnes and the specialist employment law team including Harriet McInnes and Graham Irons at Howes Percival LLP in Norwich, not forgetting Jane McNeil of Old Square Chambers who was Queens Counsel for the RFU and whose advice was crucial throughout this lengthy period.

We have received a high volume of queries from our local officials and at RFU HQ and having now settled, we feel it appropriate to clarify a number of points relating to settlement of these cases.

The RFU and FBU have over the past 12 months been in negotiations with the National Employers relating to the ‘Terms and Conditions’ aspect of the PTWLFT cases, whilst the FBU came to an agreement with the Employers, we continued talks due to the fact that some of our cases involved both the Part Time Workers legislation and Equal Pay and sought clarification on certain assurances regarding Bounty payments.

While we do not as a rule seek to react to publications from another organisation within the Fire Service; it has become clear that, over the past couple of weeks unhelpful information has been circulated by the FBU leading to confusion amongst RDS staff.

In our 19th April circular we have addressed this and provided clarification certainly for RFU members and those others who may get the chance to read it.

Compensation award – ALL serving personnel within the reference period (1st July 2000 – 30 June 2010) will receive compensation irrespective of whether they are in the RFU, FBU or no union at all; now or at any time in the past. Your compensation payment, if you are currently serving will be no different, irrespective of whether you are, or were in any union during the reference period.

We expect that every serving employee will receive their compensation award around the same time irrespective of what, if any union you are or have been in the past. All the data from your Fire Service Employer, RFU and FBU will be processed by Popularis to ensure that there is no duplication and RFU members will not be any worse off than FBU members.

The RFU very wisely protected the rights of members who retired from the Fire Service by submitting individual tribunal applications on a member-by-member basis as they left the service so that such members who left prior to 30 June 2010 are also entitled to receive the compensation award.

The RFU submitted claims covering 12 points of unfairness while the FBU only covered 3. However, the compensation award has included all of our points of unfairness.

While we would not normally seek to criticise the FBU, their recent statements have left us with no choice. The facts provided above are a matter of record.

The RFU prides itself on representing the interests of Retained/On-Call personnel and whilst we may not be the largest union in the Fire Service, we have in the past and will in the future continue to ensure our members are dealt with reasonably and honestly.

John Barton
National General Secretary

One particular group cause has concerned less favourable treatment of retained firefighters with regards to terms and conditions of employment, including, specifically, pay and access to the Firemen’s Pension Scheme.

As you will know from our most recent briefing in June 2010, a settlement offer was put forward by the Fire Service employers and we are pleased to inform members that after lengthy negotiations, a formal agreement has now been reached in relation to these claims. The purpose of this circular is to explain the background to the settlement negotiations and the offer, to enable members to make an informed decision whether to accept the offer or not.

Background

On 1 July 2000, the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 (“Regulations”), were introduced and, as their title suggests, they are aimed at ensuring part-time workers (such as retained firefighters), are not treated less favourably when compared to their full-time counterparts. Upon the Regulations being introduced, and based on longstanding concerns about inequalities with wholetime personnel, the RFU advised its members to lodge claims before the Employment Tribunal alleging that their terms and conditions of employment (particularly in relation to pay and access to the Firemen’s Pension Scheme (“Pension Scheme”)), were less favourable and, therefore, discriminatory. These claims are known collectively as the “Matthews” claims.

This action was part of a concerted campaign by the RFU on behalf of its membership and followed similar claims that the RFU had previously assisted its members to bring in the early 1990’s under the Equal Pay Act 1970 (these claims are known collectively as the “Preston” claims). Those claims related specifically to access to the Pension Scheme (although did include some aspects of terms and conditions), and followed a landmark European ruling that the failure to allow groups of predominantly part-timers to join an employer’s pension scheme could amount to sex discrimination.

As you will be aware from RFU circulars, the Matthews and Preston claims were stayed pending the outcome of a number of test cases in the Matthews claims, which involved members of the FBU. Unfortunately, since the test cases did not include any RFU members, the FBU sought to exclude us from the proceedings. Despite the FBU’s best efforts, we have retained our involvement and have continued to represent our members’ interests by way of a watching brief and also via our good relations with the other parties involved.

It is worth noting that whilst the FBU has been involved in the test cases, it was actually the RFU that first took up the issue of less favourable treatment. Indeed, our members started lodging claims (using template claim forms that had been pre-prepared by our specialist legal team, which includes a QC), as soon as the Regulations came into force on 1 July 2000. The FBU claims were lodged several months later on or around 12 December 2000. The RFU have continued to safeguard its members’ interests over the past ten years by issuing claims under the Regulations on behalf of members leaving the Fire Service so that they too are included in this settlement.

Furthermore, the RFU’s template claim form included 9 additional categories of claim that were not addressed by the FBU claimants. These additional categories have now had to be factored in by the Fire Service employers when making the settlement offer and demonstrate the importance of the RFU’s contribution to the proceedings.

The Offer

Following a decision by the Employment Tribunal in the Matthews claims which held that retained firefighters had been treated less favourably than their wholetime counterparts, the Fire Service employers and the RFU entered in to negotiations to resolve the outstanding RFU claims. The resulting position includes payment to all eligible members of a financial sum to resolve the outstanding claims. The financial offer can be summarised as follows:

• The compensation paid to you (the “Compensation Payment”) will be based on the rank/role you held on 30 June 2010 (or, if you are no longer serving, the rank/role you held on the date of leaving service provided that an Employment Tribunal claim has been made on your behalf). If you have not lodged an Employment Tribunal claim and it is now in excess of three months since your employment ended, I am afraid that you are not eligible to receive a Compensation Payment.

• For the avoidance of doubt, even if you have not issued a claim, if you are still employed by the Fire Service, and you were employed during any part of the Reference Period, you will be eligible for a Compensation Payment.

• The amounts listed below are the maximum amounts which will be applied pro-rata to your aggregated length of service based on total complete weeks during the Reference Period.

• In addition, where appropriate, the figures shall be adjusted on a pro-rata cover basis (based on the level of cover you provided on 30 June 2010), but to not less than 75%. The maximum possible amounts are:

• • Firefighter £750
  • Leading Firefighter/Crew Manager £778
  • Sub-officer and Station Officer/Watch Managers £806

In any case, the minimum total amount payable to you shall be not less than £150.

The Compensation Payment will be made without deduction of tax or national insurance contributions and is not pensionable.

It is important to note that the offer made to you is in settlement of the part of your claim/prospective claim which relates to your terms and conditions of employment (i.e. sick pay etc.). It does not settle any claim/prospective claim which relates to pensions. This part of your claim/prospective claim is still being negotiated with central government. We will be in touch with you shortly about that.

Our recommendation

The RFU has considered the employers’ offer very carefully, and at our AGM in April 2010, the Executive Committee unanimously voted to recommend the offer to the RFU’s members (unless certain circumstances apply, please see below). This decision was also unanimously supported by a vote during the open forum section of the AGM.

The RFU recognises that the offer will be better for some members than for others, but overall we consider that it represents a fair offer taking into account the following factors:

The same offer is being made to all retained firefighters, irrespective of the trade union they belong to and in the case of current employees whether or not they have lodged claims.

The RFU have, as part of the settlement terms, obtained a specific written agreement from the Fire Service employers that the Fire Service employers will not, of its own accord, claw back our members’ bounty payments. In addition, whilst they are not a party to this settlement agreement, central government has assured the RFU that it will not look to claw back bounty payments in relation to the pension element of the Matthews claims (which is yet to be resolved).

By accepting the sums currently on offer, members will have the benefit of money in their pockets, whereas litigating the claims could delay payment by further months, and possibly years.

Any settlement of the pensions aspects of the claims is very likely to require members to pay into a pension scheme the employee contributions that would have been payable if membership of the scheme had been available over the Reference Period. In other words, pension benefits will depend upon paying back contributions. Although this will depend upon individual circumstances, acceptance of the Compensation Payment may enable some members who would not otherwise be able to pay such contributions to be in a position to take the benefit of the potentially valuable pensions settlement, when it is achieved.

The cost of further litigation on the non-pensions issues is likely to be disproportionate to any further benefits which may be achieved, over and above the Compensation Payments currently on offer.

There is no guarantee that further litigation would result in greater sums being awarded than are currently on offer (indeed, it is possible that any compensation awarded could be lower).

Your options

Even though we are strongly recommending that the offer that the Fire Service employers have made be accepted, it is, of course, a matter for individual members to decide. That is why we have sought to make this circular as transparent as possible, to ensure that RFU members can make an informed choice. If any member wishes to obtain their own independent legal advice on the offer they are, of course, at liberty to do so.

What next?

The RFU and the Fire and Rescue Authorities will now proceed to provide information regarding claims and membership to a third party, Popularis Limited, who is assisting with the settlement of these claims. Popularis are bound by a duty of confidentiality in respect of this information, and it will be destroyed once the settlement process is completed. Popularis will process the information and members who are eligible to receive a Compensation Payment will receive a letter detailing the sum of the Compensation Payment they are entitled to. If you wish to accept the offer, you will need to respond within 14 days.

In the event that you have issued a claim in the Employment Tribunal, acceptance of the Compensation Payment will equate to authority for the RFU’s solicitors to withdraw the terms and conditions elements of your claim.

As detailed above, the RFU strongly recommend acceptance of the offer, unless certain circumstances apply. These are where:

(i) you have had a continuous period of sickness absence (excluding any period of paid sickness absence for illness or injury arising out of authorised duty) within the Reference Period of nine months or more; and/or

(ii) you are able to show to your Fire and Rescue Authority that the way in which the Compensation Payment has been applied to you (whether because of previous employment with another Fire Service or some other reason) is incorrect.

If such circumstances apply, the RFU will liaise with you further to ascertain the Compensation Payment you are entitled to.

Should these circumstances not apply to you, (or should the RFU disagree that these circumstances apply to you) and you elect to reject the offer, your claim will remain outstanding and will proceed to be heard by the Employment Tribunal in due course. It is important that you appreciate, however, that in light of the RFU’s decision to strongly recommend the offer to its members, the RFU will not fund any continued litigation of the non-pension related aspects of these claims.

As a result, if you elect to reject the offer and continue to litigate, the RFU will not be supporting your claim and will not be responsible for any costs you incur in so doing. The RFU will, of course, still support the pension aspects of your claim.

The Grey Book

As detailed above, the Grey Book has now been amended with a view to eliminating less favourable treatment between retained and wholetime employees. We would refer to the attached Circular for a copy of the amendments.

Members should be aware that, in accordance with the attached Circular, the amendments are to apply retrospectively, that is, there should have been no less favourable treatment under the terms of the Grey Book since 1 July 2010. We will be advising our local officials accordingly so that they are in a position to support members should any issues arise about the retrospective application of the Grey Book.

Conclusion

We appreciate that this has been a drawn out process (which unfortunately is still to be fully resolved, bearing in mind the outstanding matter of access to the Pension Scheme), but it is now drawing to a conclusion. Thankfully, the contribution and value of retained firefighters has been fully recognised by the Courts and Tribunals, so the litigation process has definitely been worthwhile.

Having achieved an important victory, the next step for the RFU is to ensure that the findings that have been made are put into practice. As ever, you can rest assured that the RFU will be at your side to continue to ensure that your rights are fully protected.

Should you have any questions that you feel are not answered by this circular, or remain uncertain how to proceed, please contact us.

Yours sincerely

John Barton
National General Secretary

8.4.2011

PSS Merlin Telemetry Board

PSS 7000 SCBA

FPS-COM Integrated Facemask

The full package has yet to be announced, but should also include the FPS-COM integrated comms mask.

As we get closer to the formal consultation we will be holding station meetings and providing information on the offer to enable you to make a decision that is best for the future of On Call Firefighters and the service we provide to our communities.

We are already outlining the background and future impact of possible outcomes with members of the media so our position will be understood by the general public. This is a great opportunity to raise the profile of the role we play and the service we provide.

If you would like to contact us you can email mgoodfellow@cornwall.therfu.org phone 07967 196650 or follow on twitter

Can we also take the opportunity to remind colleagues of the importance of having a collective voice while dealing with situations like this, the more members we have the greater our influence, Join Here

These are -

• Communications – exploring how information and views can be passed both ways, access of information and the potential role of a ‘Retained Liaison Officer’
• Expanding the Role – more efficient use of RDS staff – pools available to cover shortfalls, appliance disposition – moving special appliances to RDS stations, greater involvement in partnership working.
• Training  – allocation of training resources and time, alternative methods of training delivery, existing skills within the workforce.
• Salary and Contract – existing salary scheme trial, flexible contracts, under staffing due to 120hrs/leave entitlement.

These groups have made good progress on identifying areas where issues can be addressed. The members are drawn from all areas of the service.

The groups are working towards presenting their recommendations to another RDS Seminar planned for Oct/Nov this year.

Updates for each stream will follow shortly.