By Mark Smulian | 7 August 2014
Firefighters’ leaders have accused fire minister Penny Mordaunt of cancelling a meeting with them as strike action looms.
The Fire Brigades Union has been locked in dispute with the government for more than a year over changes to firefighters' pensions, which the union has said would see its members face dismissal unless they are physically able to work until aged 60.
A meeting had been due today, but FBU assistant general secretary Andy Dark said Mordaunt had told the union it had ‘fallen’.
The FBU is set to strike over eight days from August 9, with members walking out for two hours in the middle of each day and one hour each late evening.
Dark said: ‘We are absolutely astounded that the minister has written to the union today, less than 24 hours before the talks are due to take place, to suggest that the meeting has “fallen”.
‘This is a complete misrepresentation of the fact that the minister has cancelled the meeting.’
He said Mordaunt had written to all firefighters on 31 July to say that progress could be made only through dialogue, while the union had the following day given notice of the new strike action.
A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: ‘Once again, the FBU has followed up positive discussions with the fire minister by calling further industrial action the very next day, rather than continue constructive dialogue.
‘This is an illogical approach, strike action serves only to make progress in settling this dispute harder and is unnecessary, counterproductive and at odds with the values of the fire service.’
The dispute centres on proposals that firefighters must work until aged 60, maintaining the physical standards needed to fight blazes.
Those that opt for early retirement would see their pensions unacceptably reduced, FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said.
He said trying to fight fires at that age was ‘unsafe and unrealistic for both firefighters and the public’.
