Firefighters to strike for fourth time

Firefighters will strike again between 10am and 2pm on Wednesday 13 November. 

Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said: “We’re keen to resolve this through negotiations, but the government is simply ignoring all the evidence we have submitted.”

The government has until recently claimed that firefighters who work for 40 years would receive £19,000 a year.

Most firefighters take home approximately £1,650 a month. Most pay £320 or more a month into their pensions, and from April 2014 this will rise to £4,000 a year. 

The FBU argues that the scheme is one of the most expensive for workers anywhere in the public or private sector. 

The union has  said that the pension proposals are designed to fail because they ignore the physical demands of the firefighters’ occupation. Evidence suggests that at least two thirds of the current workforce would be unable to maintain the fitness standards required by the fire service beyond the age of 55. Such firefighters would face the prospect of being dismissed or seeing their pension reduced by almost half.

As well as holding a strike on Wednesday 13 November, firefighters are also voting in a ballot over additional forms of industrial action.