15 November 2002
With a second, eight-day strike due to begin on November 22, there is a brief window for further negotiations. Three eight-day strikes are scheduled before Christmas.
The employers blamed Fire Brigades Union officials for the breakdown in talks. A spokesman said: 'We are keen to get around the table as quickly as possible but we would like to remind people that it was the FBU that walked out.'
Last-ditch talks to avert the strike collapsed on November 12 when the union rejected the employers' offer of 4%, with a further 7% next year to be tied to modernising measures such as introducing overtime and changing the length of shifts. The FBU is calling for a 40% pay rise to bring pay for an average firefighter up to £30,000 a year.
The offer was strictly in line with the recommendations of the independent review of the fire service chaired by Sir George Bain. The review's interim verdict on November 11 stipulated that future pay rises should be linked to modernisation.
Within hours of the strike, Prime Minister Tony Blair dismissed the FBU's pay claim as unreasonable. 'It is not just this government that could not contemplate such a thing,' he said. 'There is no government on earth that could yield to such a claim.'
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said that progress had been made on the cover the FBU would provide in the event of a major incident. He asked firefighters to 'be reasonable, suspend the strike and return to negotiate'.
'Don't walk, talk,' he said after meeting FBU leader Andy Gilchrist on November 13.
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