THE Whitby area's part-time firefighters could be forced to quit by EU red tape.
Between 40 and 50 firefighters in Robin Hood’s Bay, Lythe, Danby and possibly Goathland could be unable to keep up their commitments if their choice to opt out of rules saying they cannot work more than 48 hours a week, is removed.
Retained firefi
ghters often have other jobs but spend anything up to 120 hours a week on call and ready to help deal with an emergency.
The European Parliament has voted to remove opt outs from the Working Time Directive under which workers could choose to say they want to work more than 48 hours a week.
The European Parliament is in talks with the Council of Ministers over the vote and how it will be implemented.
Britain’s retained firefighters are the only ones affected because part-time fire crews in other European countries are volunteers. If they lose the opt-out then the retained fire service would become unviable because if people are working up to 48 hours in their main employment, they won’t have any hours left to devote to public service.
In North Yorkshire the region will be hit hardest with 54.7% of firefighters working part-time.
The Government is now attempting to reach a compromise with the European Commission before a deadline of new elections to the Brussels Parliament in June.
A spokesman for The Chief Fire Officers’ Association (CFOA) said it has, for some time, expressed its concern over the potential impact of the decisions in Europe to remove Britain’s opt out from the Working Time Directive.
“Once again, a European Directive has largely overlooked the effect on the fire and rescue service and, in particular, on the retained service who provide a significant portion of emergency cover in the UK. CFOA continues to press the Government to recognise the urgency and significance of the situation and we have been encouraged in recent meetings the Government are taking this matter seriously and are looking for a solution.
“CFOA is aware some local media coverage appears to have concluded, erroneously in our view, that this will lead to wholesale sackings.
“This is not the case and we are urgently lobbying ministers to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.”
