Reprieve for fire station cooks

The jobs of 100 London fire station cooks have been saved.

The cooks, mostly part-time, work in 100 of London's 114 fire stations. The proposal from Conservative members of the London Fire Authority would have saved £1m from the authority's £300m annual budget. It has now been dropped.

Tony Phillips, branch secretary of the Unison trade union, which represents 85 of the 100 cooks, said: "We are pleased that their jobs are saved for another year.

"Station cooks have been under attack for many years and obviously it's very stressful for our members who are the lowest paid employees in the authority."

The cooks had their hours cut two years ago and no longer provide meals in the evenings or at weekends, when fire-fighters have to do their own cooking. Phillips said this created a real problem in smaller stations where fire-fighters were overstretched.

Brian Coleman, leader of the conservative group on the London Fire Authority wants to get rid of the cooks. He said that 56% of fire-fighters who had had a medical inspection last year were overweight and labelled the cooks "an anachronism."

The removal of the cooks would help "to tackle the mess culture that exists in fire stations." He said: "I would like to see fire-fighters parking their engine outside a café, and having to go and eat in the community."

Mick Shergold, regional secretary of London's Fire Brigade Union, said: "Coleman's comments are an absolute insult to the capital's fire-fighters. The answer to health issues is to have proper catering arrangements and dietary advice. Re-entry of a full service would free all fire-fighters up to do their jobs to a greater ability and provide more time for community fire prevention initiatives."