Female firefighter aims to blaze a trail at union

ONE of the most male dominated unions, the Scottish Fire Brigades Union (FBU), could elect a woman leader for the first time in its history.

Denise Christie is set to run as a candidate for the leadership of the heavily male-dominated SFU

Denise Christie, pictured, is set to be a candidate to lead the union, which represents Scotland’s 6,941 firefighters – just 337 or less than 5 per cent of whom are women.

Ms Christie, an Edinburgh-based firefighter for the past 20 years, was among the FBU members nominated for the union’s leadership election, with the result due to be announced in early May. The 42-year-old, who is the chair for the FBU in Edinburgh, Midlothian, East Lothian, Scottish Borders, is understood to be standing against two male candidates for the full-time position.

Ms Christie, told The Scotsman, said: “There’s more than one candidate and we have to go through an election, which is in the hands of the FBU membership, so we can’t comment or canvass publicly during the process.”

The election of Christie – a Labour supporter – as Scotland’s senior FBU official, would also be seen as a blow to the SNP, which has been influential in the union amid controversy about it being too close to Nationalist ministers.

Ms Christie is expected to be one of three candidates in the leadership election, with Strathclyde firefighter Chris McGlone also standing for the position as Scotland’s representative on the FBU’s UK ruling executive body.

However, the main opponent of Ms Christie in the contest is expected to be Kenny Ross, who is viewed as being close to the pro-independence campaign.