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August 27, 2004
So is it over?
The Fire Service dispute is settled. Or is it? The employers and the Union have agreed on everything. But now Mr Raynsford's (Minister for Local Government and the Regions) poodles in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) have ordered that it must be scrutinised by their lawyers BEFORE it can be accepted by the Employers. So much for democracy and democratic responsibility!
These dishonest clowns now expect everyone to believe that they HAVE to do this in order to ensure that "Public Money is being Wisely Spent!" The only way to ensure that is to sack the lot of them. Complete house clearance, and throw out the politicians as well. Then start again - with a new batch of Chief Officers who are less supine, "management" oriented, and eager to please the politicians. It would also help if the Union were outlawed, as well, and a new means found of representing the true fire fighters - not the disaffected and disruptive lot that usually get elected to represent the "members" on the Union - purely because the real fire fighters couldn't be bothered.
What this clearly reveals is that the ODPM has a different agenda and does not want a settlement - unless it meets their agenda. But now they have a problem; three of the four "nations" that make up the Union have decided to act on their own. Almost 20 of the 43 Authorities in England have also declared that they will go down the Unilateral Declaration of Independence route as well. This leaves Raynsford and his minions exposed as the charlatans and "eminenses grise" who have been orchestrating this dispute for their own nefarious ends - and also as being the source of much of the garbage that has been spun in an effort to turn the public against the men and women who provide the best fire service in the world.
Let us hope that the "Legal Advisers" act with independence and honesty - and advise this poisonous little twit that he is out of order. It is time this dispute was settled; it is also time that this government was thrown out on their ears - preferably permanently!
Posted by The Gray Monk at August 27, 2004 10:43 AM