AUXILIARY UPDATE : 06 june 2023

NEW AVAILABILITY APP ALLOWS QFES TO TRACK YOU

Despite many months of requests, the project team responsible for the development of the new availability and tracking app designed for use by auxiliary firefighters has chosen to say nothing and deliberately keep your union in the dark about the app.

QFES have published this information on the gateway –
https://qfes.sharepoint.com/sites/gateway/IT/projects/Pages/FMES-Project.aspx

One face value, this is a great idea, though this information appears to set out many decisions that have been about the way the app will function, and some of them are of significant concern regarding your privacy.

To be clear, the app will allow (an unknown number of people within) QFES to track where you are at any time unless you remember to switch on and off the tracking function.

This tracking has happened during trials of these sorts of apps in use for auxiliary response, and some of your colleagues have been contacted and questioned about why they haven’t attended a call out or training, when the app shows that the firefighter is nearby.

Your union will not permit breaches of your privacy when you’re not at work, and the description provided in the link above does not do enough to assure us that you won’t be quietly monitored.

Further discussions are happening between the UFUQ and QFES but for now, our strong and clear recommendation is not to download this app.  There is no legal requirement for you to do so under any circumstance. And if this AUXILIARY UPDATE leaves you with more questions than answers, that’s how we feel too, as QFES has done the worst possible job of keeping your union updated on how this app will work.

Your union believes better tracking of firefighters during an incident is urgently needed, but this app doesn’t do that, so we will continue to keep you updated as this process evolves.

John Oliver - General Secretary