I want to make it clear to all members the weekly pay increase you will receive from November 7th 2003 if the 3.5% is implemented. As a member in this region I want you to have as much information as possible upon which to make your decisions.

It would seem that our employers believe they can cherry pick sections of the agreement and I believe this is unacceptable if it is a complete package.

The other consideration you have to make is what are we likely to face if asking for more time to have all the details of the whole paper clarified.

The letter from the employers read :

Andy Gilchrist
General Secretary
Fire Brigades Union
Bradley House
68 Coombe Road
Kingston upon Thames
KT2 7AE
31st October 2003


Dear Andy

NEGOTIATIONS ON FIRE SERVICE PAY AND CONDITIONS

I am writing to let you know that the Employers have now considered the Joint Secretaries' Position Statement on the Implementation of the Fire Service Pay and Conditions Agreement 2003 and have agreed to the document's contents in full. This will provide a basic pay increase of at least 7% to all fire service employees (and average increases of 13.74% to employees on the retained duty system) with effect from 7th November 2003 .

The Stage 2 increase of 7% is of course subject to the following conditions, set out in paragraph 2.1 of the joint agreement of 13th June 2003 :

(a) completion of all the negotiations and consultations referred to in this agreement and, where appropriate, their ratification by the Fire Service National Employers, the Fire Brigades Union and Government; and

(b) verification by the Audit Commission ( England and Wales ), Accounts Commission ( Scotland ) and Government ( Northern Ireland ) that the intended benefits (including savings) of the various national changes are being delivered locally.

However, in view of the significant progress that has been made in negotiations, if the FBU agrees to the Joint Secretaries' Position Statement then the Employers would be prepared to pay 3.5% immediately (ie on 7th November 2003), with the remaining 3.5% payable once the conditions at (a) and (b) above have been met. You will know that everybody involved in the process is committed to ensuring that this is achieved as soon as possible.

If there is no joint agreement on the position statement then obviously it would not be possible for any of the 7% increase to be paid.

Yours faithfully

Phil White
Assistant Employers' Secretary

I have no idea when as soon as possible will be although I am sure the Audit Commission will be working as quickly as possible to complete their work and conclude point 2.1 b.

On section 2.1a it was clear from our regional meeting there was still much to do although we were assured our negotiators were working 7 days a week to reach a settlement.
I do not know what the final time scale will be but in similar cases it has dragged on for some considerable time. Members should bear this in mind if the 3.5% is accepted in future months as local officials may not be able to give them and more information on when the other half of the 7% may become due although we will circulate all information widely.

Members are free to attend the planned schools in Bournemouth as detailed on our web site

Best Wishes

Dean Mills
Regional Secretary

Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you have any queries or want any more information please contact me on:

Mob: 07956 502585

Regional Office: 01494 513034

email:deanmills@hotmail.com