Liz Lynne MEP and the Liberal Democrats, have been leading the campaign in the House of Commons, the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the European Parliament to keep the right for key retained fire-fighters all across UK to opt out of the Working Time Directive - which threatens to limit their total weekly working time to 48 hours, including time spent on call.

The plan to scrap the UK opt-out, backed by many Labour MEPs, failed to pass after talks between the European Parliament and representatives of EU member states collapsed at the end of April.

Liz Lynne, who is vice President of the European Parliament's Employment Social Affairs Committee, worked closely with the Retained Fire-fighters Union, who feared that if the opt-out battle was lost thousands of hours of emergency cover would be removed. Liz Lynne is the shadow rapporteur for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe and the only UK lead for any party in the European Parliament, negotiating with government ministers from EU Member States

Retained Fire-Fighters safe as EU Working Time negotiations collapse

If it had gone through the move would impact on life-saving fire and rescue services - but especially in rural areas where the work of retained fire-fighters allows emergency cover to extend far beyond the level which would otherwise be possible.

Tavish Scott and Bob Smith visit retained firefighters at Aboyne

Full-time fire-fighters simply could not be employed across our area with anything like the same coverage - the consequences would be slower response times and ultimately the loss of lives.

There is still work to be done on how the UK will implement any changes to the Working Time Directive. The Liberal Democrats will be engaging with Ministers in Brussels, the department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) and in the Scottish Government to ensure that implementation will allow the continued operation of a fire service with Retained Firefighters at its heart.

This applies, not just retained firefighters but to all workers who wish to work extra hours. The safety aspect is already covered by Health & Safety Legislation.

George Lyon, Scottish Lib Dems leading Euro candidate has pledged, if elected in June to campaign in the European Parliament to guarantee hat fire-fighters are protected from any further changes in legislation.

Click here for a list of Scottish fire stations affected.
A list of all UK stations affected to follow.

Show your support for the campaign on Facebook.
Email us at: keeptheoptout@scotlibdems.org.uk

UPDATES:

• Retained Fire-Fighters safe from harm as EU Working Time negotiations collapse
• Scottish Government have finally woken up to fire service threat - McArthur
• Equivalent of 330 doctors missing in battle to be ready for working time directive
• Two months to save opt out for retained firefighters - McArthur
• Working Time limits pose huge threat to retained fire and flood cover - Liz Lynne MEP
• TA exemption shows ministers can do same for retained firefighters - Carmichael
• EU working rules must not threaten our fire fighters - Liz Lynne MEP
• EU rules mustn't affect UK firefighters - Julia Goldsworthy MP
• Keep the opt-out to keep the public safe - Eleanor Burnham AM
• Transcript of the debate in Parliament - Wednesday 11 February 2009
• Borders fire services need as much flexibility as possible - Moore
• Liberal Democrats secure Parliamentary debate on threat to retained firefighters
• Alan Reid MP backs the Lib Dem campaign to keep the opt out for retained fire-fighters
• Carmichael - Local communities must not be put at risk as a result of unintended consequences
• Kennedy backs campaign to keep vital opt-out for retained fire-fighters

Sign our petition

I/we the undersigned support the Liberal Democrats call for retained fire-fighters to to keep the right to opt out of the Working Time Directive;