Our position on the Opt-Out

We believe it is the right time to reinforce our position and reflect on what we’ve been doing on behalf of our members and RDS in general.

Our position has always been perfectly clear on the threat to the continuation of emergency fire cover provided by RDS if the Opt Out is withdrawn and we are the only fire service union to publicly take up the challenge on your behalf. At no time have we deceived you on this very real threat. We have lobbied widely to get an important message across and we/you now have tremendous support.

The present financial climate is putting pressure on the family purse, the income you receive as firefighters is perhaps more important now that it’s ever been. If anything, this issue does have something to celebrate, at last the figures on cover provided by RDS are on public display, it is now common knowledge how important the RDS is in terms of national resilience and what would be lost if as we’ve said the RDS becomes unviable. Without exception RDS personnel serve their ‘extended family’ by that we mean your friends and neighbours in the communities you serve, we will do all we can to ensure that you continue to have that choice!

We continue to provide information on the current position regarding the Opt-Out and we now have some news for you, our sources tell us that at a meeting in Brussels today, during negotiations the position of the Spanish Socialist MEP Mr Cercas and Socialist MEPs (including some Labour MEPs) remains that the Opt-Out of the working time directive must go, in line with the Parliament's position. The Council of Ministers have not suggested any compromise wording with regard to the Opt Out and are maintaining their position that the Opt Out is non-negotiable. It is vital therefore that notwithstanding the UK Government’s clear commitment to retaining the Opt-Out, we need to maintain the pressure on UK MEP’s to persuade Mr Cercas of the effects on the RDS if we lose the Opt-Out. Take it as read we’ll be doing just that.

Once again, we remind you that we have your best interests at heart, these are the facts, so give some thought to what the RFU is doing, join us, be part of the solution not the problem.

See the above document to find out how your MEP voted and please feel free to lobby them direct via www.writetothem.com

John Barton
National General Secretary