Fire pay dispute threatens to re-ignite

As firefighters take unofficial action over the suspension of colleagues in Greater Manchester, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) executive look set to recommend a strike ballot to members.

However, ahead of separate meetings between the union and employers today, there were heated exchanges.

The FBU claimed that they had not received an invitation to talks, and the employers chairman Sir Jeremy Beecham told reporters that the unofficial action by firefighters was jeopardising the national pay deal reached in November last year after a protracted series of strikes.

The suspension of firefighters in Salford, Greater Manchester, followed a refusal by crews to carry out a range of additional tasks - duties that employers claim are part of the phased settlement reached last year following a bitter dispute.

Yesterday, in a statement FBU General Secretary Andy Gilchrist said that employers had yet to sign up to the initial phase of the agreement.

“We have reached agreement in principle with the employers, but they simply refuse to sign. This has held up the 3.5% pay award outstanding since November 2003 and this has caused Firefighters' anger to boil over," he said.

“We have met fully the spirit and word of the June 2003 Agreement and tremendous progress has been made on modernisation. We are angered at attempts to move the goalposts time after time and attempts to renegotiate the agreement reached last year.

“Stand Down time was raised as an issue at the last minute despite the employers having agreed to it only last June. We offered a compromise on 9 May to which they have failed to respond even now."

But firefighters have claimed that demands for a range of additional training and inspection duties to be carried out at night are impractical.

The FBU Executive issued a statement condemning the national fire brigades employers association for "dragging their feet" and branded the threat to dismiss the suspended Salford crews as "disgraceful".

The FBU said it would be authorising a ballot on industrial action "in relation to issues around the non-implementation of the agreement reached in June of last year", and threatened a recall of the national conference if any members were dismissed.

Today some 40 Salford firefighters were suspended for again refusing to operate equipment that included mass decontamination facilities - equipment that is designed to be used in the event of a chemical attack.

(SP)