Firefighters demand pay is updated

Firefighters
are calling for a massive pay rise that will take their wages to £30,000 a
year.

Currently
a fully qualified firefighter is paid £21,531, and the Fire Brigades Union says
this is far too low.

Firefighters’
pay is linked to a 24-year-old pay formula, introduced after the last national
fire strike, and the union says this is out of date and needs replacing.

Delegates
at next month’s FBU conference will discuss calls for industrial action,
including strikes, if the pay claim is not met.

Andy
Gilchrist, the union’s general secretary, said the FBU had been arguing for
years that pay had fallen behind other workers.

The
pay claim will be presented to employers and the union is pressing for a reply
before its annual conference in Bridlington next month.

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FBU
assistant general secretary Mike Fordham said: "For far too long FBU
members have been providing a first-class service for second-class wages."

By Quentin Reade