Recruitment and organisation

Conference believes that a strong and organised Retained membership is an invaluable asset to this Union. Retained Duty System firefighters make up around a third of the UK’s operational firefighters. Conference believes that in order to maintain an effective defence of all firefighter jobs and conditions all the FBU’s Brigades, Regions and Sections must be fully recruited, maintained and serviced.

Currently the Retained Section of the FBU is not at full strength and has not been for some time. Therefore, Conference demands that the following steps be taken to address this situation in order to enhance the protection of all its Members.

The Executive Council set up a task and finish group to carry out a review that identifies the reasons for falling membership figures, establishes the level of engagement and representation that the Union is achieving with Retained Duty System firefighters and identifies opportunities for increasing the membership from this section of the workforce.

Conference also requires that the task and finish group produce a report to the Executive Council by the end of 2019.