Fire Brigades Union passes vote of no confidence in service leadership

19 February 2018, 07:48 | Updated: 19 February 2018, 07:49

Fire Brigades Union members have passed a unanimous vote of no confidence in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service chief officer and his senior leadership team.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said the vote came after its members repeatedly raised concerns over the availability of fire appliances and the continuing reliance on overtime to crew appliances.

The union said it is of the "firm belief" that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has had many opportunities to resolve these issues but has made no satisfactory improvements.

As a result, FBU members tabled a vote of no confidence in chief officer Alasdair Hay and his senior leadership team which was passed unanimously at an emergency committee meeting of the Scottish regional committee.

The FBU said it is also concerned that a public consultation on service transformation has started before the SFRS has "successfully integrated all legacy Fire Services practices and processes" and "standardised existing uniformed terms and conditions".

The union said it has continually made it clear that all legacy consolidation, including standardising of uniformed terms and conditions, must be satisfactory resolved before moving onto negotiations on service transformation.