23 August 2002
The Fire Brigades Union is to press ahead with a ballot for its first national strike over pay in 25 years, while employers have been left to make last-ditch attempts at negotiations after the government turned down requests for an independent inquiry.
The FBU is to reconvene its national conference on September 12 and will recommend ballots for strike action over its claim for a 39% wage increase. The union and employers have been in talks since May.
The FBU is anxious for reform of its funding formula, devised in 1977 after the last national strike. Employers agree that the formula is in need of reform but have refused to give any indication of what they would or could award.
They are also insisting that any pay increase should be accompanied by modernisation. A spokesman for the employers claimed that the FBU had refused to discuss anything other than pay.
Firefighters are currently paid a basic salary of £21,500 and are asking for an increase to £30,000.
The FBU and employers are due to meet on September 2 in what will be the last chance to come to any agreement and avert a strike. But the spokesman conceded that no progress had been made. 'The negotiations are going nowhere,' he said. 'A one-off 39% wage increase is slightly out of the league of normal wage demands.'
Employers have called for an independent inquiry to tackle the FBU wage claim as well as conditions and modernisation. But at a meeting on August 15 Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott made it clear that all negotiations should be exhausted before he would even consider such an inquiry.
The FBU has given employers until November 7 to implement the wage increase, although strike action could begin before then.
National officer Geoff Ellis said an inquiry would have no bearing on their action. 'Our members don't need an inquiry to tell them they are poorly paid,' he told Public Finance.
'The job we do today demands higher wages. Our members should be paid the correct rate for the job we do.'
PFaug2002
