Firefighters defy Government and call strike for 21 January
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Your support makes all the difference.Leaders of firefighters' last night defied the Government by setting another strike day and threatening months of industrial action in support of their pay demands.
Members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) are to walk out for 24 hours on 21 January, and they warned of a long series of "flexible and varied" strikes which could last anywhere from two hours to four days. The military's Green Goddess fire engines had already been prepared for two previously announced 48-hour stoppages scheduled for 28 January and 1 February.
The decision by the FBU executive follows warnings from employers that last year's Bain report on firefighters' pay, offering 11 per cent over two years in return for sweeping reforms, was "non-negotiable".
On Monday the union's general secretary Andy Gilchrist will approach representatives of fire authorities to see if there is any "room for manoeuvre". He said: "If there no prospect of negotiating, there is no point in attending negotiations planned for next week. It is as simple as that."
Senior officials of the union are to draw up "contingency plans" for a long campaign of industrial action for consideration by a meeting of the FBU executive next Thursday.
Referring to suggestions that cancellation of previous strike dates had been seen as a sign the union was giving up their fight, one senior official at the union said: "Let's see if the Government considers this a sign of weakness now."
Mr Gilchrist said he met fire authority leaders on Thursday night and was presented with proposals which would lead to the loss of 4,000 firefighters' and the closure of 150 fire stations. He told a news conference: "The employers' position is worse than any other offer received at any point during this dispute.
"The straitjacket conditions attached to this offer threaten the future and safety of our fire service. Cuts are the order of the day. This dispute is still about pay but it is also now about the future of the fire service." Mr Gilchrist urged the Government to allow employers to negotiate freely and repeated that the Bain proposals were "entirely unacceptable".
Local authority employers said they were "very disappointed", adding that they still hoped to resume negotiations at the conciliation service Acas. "We want to talk to try to resolve this dispute. The union appears to have given up talking."
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