By David Bartlett
The Daily Post
MERSEYSIDE, England — Fire chiefs will vote to cut 80 front-line firefighter jobs this week, as part of a package of measures which union officials believe will see the loss of around 120 posts.
Merseyside Fire Authority is expected to agree to a raft of measures to help plug a pounds 5m budget gap on Thursday.
It would see 80 front-line firefighters take voluntary redundancy or retirement over the next year.
The Fire Brigades Union last night said a further 36 fire safety staff, who are currently uniformed, will also depart, bringing the total to 116.
A source told the Daily Post that the authority would agree to cull 129 jobs over the next year.
A senior fire authority member said 140 fire service employees had put their names forward for voluntary redundancy.
Union representative Les Skarratts said: “It is a sad indictment so many want to leave a job which used to be cherished by so many.”
He said the fire authority’s consultation was “shambolic”.
Mr Skarratts added: “The fire authority will be meeting on Thursday to vote through some of the biggest ever cuts to a fire brigade in the UK, and Gordon Brown will come to Liverpool today and say there will be no front-line cuts.”
Other measures which will be voted on include changing shift patterns at Eccleston, in St Helens, which will save around pounds 300,000.
Cllr Jack Colbert, the Liberal Democrat group leader on the fire authority, said: “We wrote to all fire staff to ask for people to come forward for voluntary redundancies, and 140 put their name forward.
“We have got to take a good percentage of that. “It is a depressing situation and next year it is going to be worse because we have been told we will be getting a decrease in the grant from government. But I would like to say the people of Merseyside will not see any reduction in the level of fire and rescue cover.”
A spokesperson for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service said: “The proposals at Thursday.'s fire authority meeting are to bring in a number of measures to meet the challenge of a pounds 5m budget deficit, created by low grants and inflationary pressures.
“These measures include changes to the shift system at one of our stations and converting uniform posts to non-uniform where the role is office-based, and have been the subject of widespread consultation.
“The changes will have no effect on our emergency response times, which are some of the highest in the country.
“It is anticipated the 80 posts which will be lost this year will be by not filling posts when people retire — there will be no compulsory redundancies. “We have been highly successful in the last decade in significantly reducing the number of fires and fire-related deaths and injuries.”
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