Kildare's Retained Firefighters Halt Strike Action To Allow For Labour Court Discussions

Monday, 19 June 2023 10:41

By Caoimhe Harney

This “full-out strike” will go ahead as planned on Tuesday if Labour Court discussions aren’t successful.

Kildare's Retained Firefighters have suspend their industrial action to allow for “exploratory discussions” at the Labour court on Monday.

The Retained Fire Service is a 2,000 strong part-time workforce which provides fire and first responder emergency services across the country.

Siptu members employed as Retained Fire Services firefighters had been engaged in industrial action this week due to what the trade union describes as a “staffing crisis which threatens this vital community resource”.

It was warned that this would escalate to a “full-out strike” beginning Tuesday, 20 June, “if the measures necessary to safeguard the future operation of this vital resource are not implemented”.

This “full-out strike” will go ahead as planned on Tuesday if Labour Court discussions aren’t successful.

The Labour Court has written to Siptu representatives to invite them to “exploratory discussions” around the dispute on Monday morning at 10am.

The Labour Court has also written to the Local Government Management Association (LGMA), as the employer in the dispute, requesting its attendance at the talks.

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