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Pay firefighters not to be drunk - union
The Australian ^ | 7th November 2009 | Cameron Stewart

Posted on 11/06/2009 3:21:34 PM PST by naturalman1975

MELBOURNE'S firefighters should be paid extra for turning up to work sober, according to a log of claims by their union.

The Victorian branch of the United Firefighters Union is also calling for a "global warming allowance" for the city's 1600 firefighters, "in recognition of the increased work and risk to firefighters as a result of global warming"..

It is also demanding extra pay for firefighters if they have to work when a pandemic is declared.

The controversial claims have stunned the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board (MFB), which says they are unprecedented.

"I am not aware of any other fire service or emergency service where claims of this sort have been either made or agreed to," MFB chief fire officer Tony Murphy told The Weekend Australian.

He said claims for such unusual allowances "devalue the profession of firefighting".

Among the claims made by the UFU in its draft proposal for a new three-year enterprise agreement with the MFB is that some of its members receive an allowance for coming to work with a zero blood-alcohol level.

"All employees required to have zero blood-alcohol content while at work shall be paid an allowance," the UFU's log of claims states.

Like many emergency services workers, firemen who drive firetrucks are required by law to have a zero blood-alcohol level.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS:
To an extent, I agree with the idea for an allowance on the zero blood-alcohol limit. It is an imposition as it really does mean professional firefighters have long periods where they are off duty and can't drink (it can take hours to get back down to zero, even if you only had a single beer).

The 'climate change' claim though really annoys me. Even if 'global warming' was real, in Victoria, the type of fires that climate change is most likely to make worse are bushfires - the vast majority of which are fought by unpaid volunteer firefighters of the Country Fire Authority (including myself). For the city based professionals of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade to be seeking a special allowance - that's going to annoy a lot of the volunteers. (MFB firefighter certainly do sometimes fight bushfires, and they do it well, but their primary responsibility is the city of Melbourne).

1 posted on 11/06/2009 3:21:35 PM PST by naturalman1975
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To: naturalman1975

I have a better idea. Pay them nothing and fire their butt if they come to work drunk.


2 posted on 11/06/2009 3:26:19 PM PST by GeronL (http://tyrannysentinel.blogspot.com .... I am a rogue nobody. One of millions.)
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To: naturalman1975

“The Victorian branch of the United Firefighters Union is also calling for a “global warming allowance” for the city’s 1600 firefighters,...”

Dopes...don’t they know they can buy carbon credits? DUH!


3 posted on 11/06/2009 3:27:12 PM PST by scottdeus12 (Jesus is real, whether you believe in Him or not.)
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To: naturalman1975

How about paying them more if they quit the union.


4 posted on 11/06/2009 3:30:56 PM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (RATs, nothing more than bald haired hippies.)
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To: naturalman1975
It is an imposition as it really does mean professional firefighters have long periods where they are off duty and can't drink (it can take hours to get back down to zero, even if you only had a single beer).

This is only for fire truck drivers, like teenage drivers here in America.

It takes 90 minutes for 1 drink and one night's sleep (or 8 hours) for a six pack for a 180 pound man. If he was drinking a half a case of beer then he would want to stop 15 hours before work.

5 posted on 11/06/2009 3:32:48 PM PST by ansel12 (Scozzafava/Romney 2012)
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To: ansel12

I’ve had measureable alcohol in my blood stream 9 hours after drinking a single beer.

It was less than 0.01 - but it was still measureable.

(Probationary drivers here - those who’ve had a licence less than three years - have to have a zero reading as well, and we were showing a group of senior school students what that means).

And the rules here state that all firefighters have to be ready to drive the truck. Yes, there are designated drivers, but this applies to all.


6 posted on 11/06/2009 3:36:09 PM PST by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: naturalman1975

BUT ALL THOSE BEER FARTS WILL CONTRIBUTE TO GLOBULL WARMING!


7 posted on 11/06/2009 3:45:04 PM PST by vpintheak (4-times an extremist)
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To: naturalman1975

So what is the explanation for how that could be?


8 posted on 11/06/2009 3:52:25 PM PST by ansel12 (Scozzafava/Romney 2012)
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To: naturalman1975

Where’s the Pythons when you need them? This sounds like a set-up for a sequel to the “Bruces” sketch.


9 posted on 11/06/2009 3:53:15 PM PST by RichInOC (No! BAD Rich! (What'd I say?))
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To: naturalman1975

Zero must have a definition or else technology would constantly be chasing zero, I wonder what zero is for the fire truck driver because it can’t mean that they have to be non drinkers.


10 posted on 11/06/2009 3:57:32 PM PST by ansel12 (Scozzafava/Romney 2012)
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To: naturalman1975

WHAT!?

how about this .... turn up to work sober or LOSE YOUR JOB!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH what is wrong with the world!


11 posted on 11/06/2009 4:17:45 PM PST by TexasFreeper2009 (Obama lied, the economy died)
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To: GeronL

Works for me.


12 posted on 11/06/2009 8:19:54 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps !"~~)
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To: naturalman1975; scripter; proud_yank; grey_whiskers; FrPR; enough_idiocy; Desdemona; rdl6989; ...
They shouldn't go down this road of hitching remuneration to global temperature, due to the fact that the earth is in a cooling cycle.

 


Beam me to Planet Gore !

13 posted on 11/06/2009 9:08:49 PM PST by steelyourfaith (Limit all U.S. politicians to two terms: One in office and one in prison! to s)
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To: GeronL

I’ll drink to that.


14 posted on 11/18/2009 1:48:31 PM PST by WOBBLY BOB (ACORN:American Corruption for Obama Right Now)
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