Firefighters will take strike action for four days starting from 6pm on Friday, October 31.
FIREFIGHTERS SAY they don’t want to strike but they refuse to compromise on public and firefighter safety, nor standby whilst the Government rips up the pension contracts they signed up to when they first joined the fire service.
Penny Mordaunt MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government originally suggested that this would be deliverable as part of the recent discussions but last week informed firefighters that she would no longer be progressing this option.
Firefighters are angry that despite the fire minister saying in August she was seeking the “best deal possible for firefighters”, suggesting that the present offer was not satisfactory and another was being sought – that she has now said there is no offer on the table.
This has left firefighters very angry and complaining they have been lied to and they feel they now have absolutely no option other than to take strike action.
Simon Herbert, chair of the East Sussex Fire Brigade Union, said: “After a lifetime of service to our communities, firefighters across the Country are at risk of being sacked merely for getting old. On top of this, the public are at greater risk from the dangers of fire and flooding if firefighters are forced to work until they are 60.
“The government have ignored their own evidence on the physical demands of fire fighting with the Williams Review finding that over 60% of 55-60 year olds would be unlikely to meet the fitness standard used by most fire services and would therefore be unlikely to be able to achieve the new normal pension age of 60.”
Firefighters will be holding picket lines at Hove Fire Station and Preston Circus Fire Station over the 4 day period of strike action.
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