Firefighters’ strike postponed after 7% pay offer
The planned firefighter’s strike has been put on hold as union members consider a newly offered pay increase.
Tuesday’s talks saw fire service employers put forward a revised offer, which includes a 7% pay rise backdated to July 2022 and another 5% from this July.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) will now ballot members on the deal.
More than 80% of FBU members who voted in a ballot in December backed strike action.
If the strike had gone ahead, it would have marked the first UK-wide fire strike over pay since 2003.
Matt Wrack, general secretary of the FBU, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the new pay offer was “testament to the power of collective action through the Fire Brigades Union”.
“We have achieved this increase because of the massive vote in favour of strike action by firefighters and control staff across the country, which made clear the strength of feeling among firefighters about cuts to their wages.”
He added, that since 2010, union members have experienced a 12% drop in real-term earnings.
Union members had rejected a previous 5% pay offer in November, arguing that it would equal a real-term pay cut given the current high rate of inflation.
The announcement comes amid a wave of industrial action which has seen nurses, teachers, civil servants and railway workers strike.
There will be more strike action this week.
