Talks over civilian jobs at RAF Lossiemouth
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A CALL has gone out to safeguard the jobs of 27 civilian firefighters at RAF Lossiemouth before a contract is outsourced.
Moray SNP MSP Richard Lochhead has written to Capita ahead of crunch talks with staff on Thursday.
The outsourcing giant will take on the £525 million fire and rescue service contract at MoD bases from April.
Civilian staff are aware of a proposal to make the civilian crew redundant and replace them with military personnel.
Civilians have served as firefighters at RAF Lossiemouth since the 1970s.
Mr Lochhead said Lossiemouth is unique as the only station in Scotland manned by a civilian fire crew set to be affected by the proposal. He has previously written to the UK Government and Capita expressing his "serious concerns".
The MSP is seeking a meeting with Capita chief executive Jonathan Lewis and has pressed him to secure the local civilian jobs.
Mr Lochhead said: "It’s extremely concerning that the risk of redundancy continues to hang over the heads of the civilian firefighters at RAF Lossiemouth.
"This is an incredibly stressful time for the staff at risk, many of whom have served at Lossiemouth for many years and who also work as retained firefighters in our local community.
"With the expansion at RAF Lossiemouth this should be a time where we’re seeing an increase in the number of civilian jobs and opportunities for local folk to work at the base. But instead our local and dedicated fire crew are facing the axe – despite the commitment they’ve shown to RAF Lossiemouth down the years.
"Ahead of these crunch talks this week, I have again written to Capita urging a rethink and pressing them to secure these local jobs. It would be a huge blow if they were to press ahead with plans to make existing staff redundant."
Capita signed the 12-year contract with the MoD in July last year which covers 53 fire stations in the UK, including at RRH Benbecula, RRH Buchan and RAF Leuchars, and sites in Cyprus and the Falkland Islands.
