Fire Strike On
Fri, November 22, 2002
Source: Ananova
Armed Forces personnel to provide emergency firefighting cover for eight days.
Fire strike on after all night talks fail
Talks which went on throughout the night were on the verge of achieving a dramatic deal. But just three hours before the strike was due to start the Government intervened in the dispute and peace hopes were destroyed.
Andy Gilchrist, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said it was with a sense of "incredible regret" that the strike would go ahead. Mr Gilchrist says his union's executive had been prepared - and had decided to suspend the strike after a new pay deal was tabled by employers. He says the proposed deal would have given firefighters a pay rise of 16% achievable over the next year.
Holding up a copy of the two-page agreement which had earlier today been accepted by the union, Mr Gilchrist said: "This is the agreement. It exists and we were prepared to suspend the strike on the basis of a 16% pay rise. "But the pattern of Government intervention has continued." Mr Gilchrist says for the third time in the long-running dispute, the Government had intervened to prevent a deal being reached.
The Government had said it wanted to study the details of the proposed deal but could not do so before 9am, Mr Gilchrist claimed. He says without the intervention of the Government, local authority employers would have decided to agree the deal.
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