Firefighters to strike for fourth time in pensions row

The Fire Brigade Union Branch Secretary Mick Drake and fellow members on strike at South Shore Fire station on St Annes Road in Blackpool.

Members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) will walk out for four hours from 10am in the fourth round of strikes in recent weeks.

The union also announced it will ballot its members for other forms of industrial action in an escalation of the dispute.

Firemen and women walked out on Monday and last Friday in their ongoing row over what will happen to firefighters who fail fitness tests as their retirement age is moved from 55 to 60.

The union fears there will be job losses if firefighters are not offered other work in the service. Chris Molloy, FBU spokesman for Blackpool Fire Station, said: “It is inevitable that there will be more strike action.

“It is going to keep going until we can reach a resolution.

“The Government keep on escalating the situation because they say they want to negotiate, and it can only be resolved through negotiation.

“But then they say it is a matter for the FBU and their employers, but it is not the employers we are in dispute with, it is the Government.”

The Fire Brigades Union wants the Government to insert a clause into the firefighters’ pension contract to protect members if there are concerns over fitness.

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