Agreement averts Fire Service strike

Strike
action at the Fire Service has been averted after an agreement was reached
between unions and employers this afternoon.

Employers
and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) had been in dispute over the issue of working
during public holidays.

The
Employers’ Organisation had claimed that a deal collapsed at the beginning of
the month, when the union refused to accept that public holidays should be
normal working days.

But
today’s agreement means the final two stages of a wage settlement will be paid,
and has ended the dispute.

Both
sides agreed to a new form of wording brokered by TUC general secretary Brendan
Barber over fire duties during bank holidays. It will see firefighters receive a 3.5 per cent pay increase
backdated to last November.

Fire
authority bosses’ official acceptance of the progress report findings on fire
service modernisation will see staff receive a further 4.2 per cent.

The
agreement means that a ballot on strike action of some 52,000 FBU members will
now be suspended.

Daniel Thomas

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