Fire Brigades Union:

Members of the Fire Brigades Union in brigades across the region voted to accept the phasing of their promised pay rise whilst sending a clear message to their employers who did a U-Turn on the promised pay settlement.

Dean Mills the Regional Secretary said his members had reluctantly accepted the deal but warned firefighters national employers not to play politics with peoples lives.

Mr Mills said ‘Our employers have acted disgracefully and broken their promises on the binding agreement. Should they seek to alter our pay settlement for the next part of the deal and our set increase for July then I have no doubt our members will demonstrate their anger again'

FBU General Secretary Andy Gilchrist blasted fire service chiefs saying:

“Fire service staff have made a mature and difficult decision after a stupid move by the employers. The decision to stagger the rise in two stages was pointless, self-defeating and an industrial relations disaster.

“It caused widespread unofficial action and wiped out months of hard work trying to rebuild trust and confidence. We had a deal and they broke it without gaining anything but the disgust of the public.

Firefighters across the region are working to comply with the changes forced upon the service by the modernization programme. Mr Mills said ‘Fortunately we in this area have been modernising for some years now and are ahead of the game. Our concerns are solely that modernisation is not used as a guise for cuts to the service we give the public’

For further information contact

Dean Mills, mob 07956 502585, Regional Office on 01494 513034, email:deanmills@hotmail.com