Protests over police and fire funding plans
- Published
The Fire Brigades Union "cuts leave scars" demonstration in Glasgow's George Square was attended by about 400 people
Firefighters and police officers from across Scotland have held protests over funding cuts and stalled pay talks.
In Glasgow, about 400 firefighters gathered to warn £36m of fire service budget cuts could endanger lives.
In Edinburgh, off-duty officers protested outside a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) to call for a "justifiable" pay rise of 8.5%.
Senior fire and police officers have said both services are facing a challenging financial situation.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service points out it has a legal obligation to deliver a balanced budget and says it has to find £36m of savings over the next four years.
Proposals include reducing its overtime bill, changes to the crewing of water rescues and removing second or third fire engines from a string of stations across the country.
The total number of high reach appliances, which can operate at height with an extendable ladder, will drop from 26 to 14 under the savings plans.
John McKenzie, Fire Brigades Union (FBU) regional secretary for Scotland, told BBC Scotland News: "If you cut budgets then the number of firefighters goes down, response times go up and that has a direct impact on the public.
"Worse case scenario it ultimately means lives will be lost that will have otherwise not been lost because of the delays in attending.
"Our members are here because they are really angry about the cuts that have taken place in the last decade, and the cuts that have been outlined to take place in the next four years."
Mr McKenzie added: "The Scottish government have an opportunity to listen to their concerns. They can show that in their budget in December.
"If they fail to do that, they will leave our members with no other option but to consider industrial action, and that industrial action will be up to and including strike action."
Stuart Stevens, deputy chief officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, said: "Like all public services, we are operating in a challenging financial period and require to save at least £36m across the next four years.
"In addressing our financial challenges, we also must modernise as a service to ensure we are best placed to meet the changing risk and demand we face across Scotland.
"We will continue to work in partnership with the FBU and other representative bodies around any impact of potential savings that the service may have to consider".
Police pay row
Meanwhile, off-duty police officers and Scottish Police Federation (SPF) officials gathered in Edinburgh to protest about the lack of progress on a pay deal.
The body that represents rank-and-file officers has called for a "fair and justifiable" pay rise of 8.5% and urged its members not to report for duty when they should not be working.
The organisation said its members were already "working under significant stresses" and SPF chairman David Threadgold said he knew of one officer who should have had 60 days off in the first 30 weeks of this year - but had 24 of these days off disrupted and was instead required to work.
He added: "There is no doubt that we are being asked to do more with less and resources are stretched beyond the limit."
Police are not permitted to strike. Mr Threadgold said the SPF does "not want the public to suffer" during the pay negotiation, and that he had told officers to do their job "properly and not cut corners".
Off-duty officers and Scottish Police Federation officials protest outside a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority
SPF general secretary David Kennedy added: "Over the last two years teachers and the fire brigade have had 12.35% rises and nurses and doctors 14.5%.
"Last year we got 5% and so far this year, nothing.
"Some of these other workers have gone on strike or threatened to, but we cannot do that."
'Hard choices'
As protesters gather outside, Deputy Chief Constable Designate Fiona Taylor told the Scottish Police Authority meeting that "hard choices" were having to be made.
She said Police Scotland faced a real terms reduction in funding which meant it had "been required to reduce the number of police officers we have from 17,234 to around 16,600".
She added: "Of necessity we will reduce police staff costs in proportion to the reduction in officer numbers, and we will reduce overtime spend.
"Hard choices are, therefore, being taken now to maintain effective policing within the funding available to us.
"Action is being taken to achieve savings and deliver a balanced budget for 2023-24."
A Scottish government spokesperson said negotiations on police pay are continuing.
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