Fire Stations given reprieve from Industrial Court

The Fire Brigade Employees Union says it is been given a one-week reprieve from the State Government’s plans to temporarily close fire stations, including many in the Hunter.

The Union is in the Industrial Relations Commission again next Thursday hoping to end the dispute over the O’Farrell Government’s budget cuts.
Cessnock Council was told this week four of six local fire stations were due to close yesterday.

Union State Secretary, Jim Casey says Fire and Rescue New South Wales is considering his organisation’s proposals to meet the budget cuts.
“Really, we’ve got a weeks reprieve on the temporary station closures or the problems we’re going to have with response times and with some of their other responses to the budget cuts,” he said.

“We’ll know next Thursday whether the cuts occur in such a way as to impede upon community safety or whether they occur elsewhere.

“I think this is a tragic situation that we have to have this conversation.
“The problem here is the budget cuts themselves.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-17/fire-stations-given-reprieve-from-indus…