The
Fire Brigades Union has again claimed that it is ready and willing to negotiate
anytime and anywhere.
FBU
General Secretary Andy Gilchrist stressed that the union had not broken off
negotiations, as the Government claims.
“We
have not walked away from talks, we told Acas we were ready to talk yesterday,
today, tomorrow, any day. But, the employers refused to attend. We have not
left the negotiating table.
“It’s
a bit rich for the deputy PM to threaten to impose a settlement on us as “we
won’t negotiate” when he is the person who pulled the plug on a negotiated
settlement we could have reached with our employers in July and again in
November. Why doesn’t he take a back seat and let them get on with the job?
“I
have a message for the employers, too. They say they won’t attend talks while
the strikes continue. We have suspended a number of strikes to allow talks to
take place. Why don’t the employers and the Government suspend the
implementation of Bain [the report recommending changes to work practices] to
allow talks to take place and then maybe we could get somewhere.”
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