We beat you in 1989/90 Eddie, it was 4 months for us. I have to admit though, due to the generosity of the public not one of us lost a penny in wages. Some were infact better off because for instance a colleagues son went to a private school where they waived his fee's. Another + was on our payouts we never paid tax :O) Our dispute could have been shorter if other services had come out in support and it left a lot of nastiness afterwards, especially among our crews and the Welsh crews who brought patients to the Hereford hospitals and continued to work.
If it was left to our management we wouldn't have been out but they were acting on orders from above, the government and that snivelling little chit of a miners son who was the tory M.P. from Nottingham. We were working without pay, responding to 999 calls, that was until management were instructed to stop us and remove the insurance cover. We didn't stay away even then, whatever shift we were supposed to work we spent on the picket line.
They were times I don't regret though and they showed the generosity of the great British public. BTW the firemen along with lots of other occupations came and supported us on the picket line.
I've put up two pics, I'm the second from right in the first pic. As you can see we had lights in the trees, a christmas tree, a large tent with a telephone to the station behind where the girls cooked our dinners. We really didn't want for anything thanks to a few ex servicemen who still had military connections in Hereford.
If it was left to our management we wouldn't have been out but they were acting on orders from above, the government and that snivelling little chit of a miners son who was the tory M.P. from Nottingham. We were working without pay, responding to 999 calls, that was until management were instructed to stop us and remove the insurance cover. We didn't stay away even then, whatever shift we were supposed to work we spent on the picket line.
They were times I don't regret though and they showed the generosity of the great British public. BTW the firemen along with lots of other occupations came and supported us on the picket line.
I've put up two pics, I'm the second from right in the first pic. As you can see we had lights in the trees, a christmas tree, a large tent with a telephone to the station behind where the girls cooked our dinners. We really didn't want for anything thanks to a few ex servicemen who still had military connections in Hereford.
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