Fire dispute blazes on as union issues ultimatum

FIRE chiefs said yesterday they were hopeful talks to avert further industrial action in a long-running dispute would take place with unions.

Senior members of the Fire Brigades Union held a secret meeting at 9am yesterday, after giving management at South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue an ultimatum to return to negotiations with conciliation service ACAS.

The union had said that the brigade must agree to "binding arbitration" and demanded the negotiations must begin without any "pre-conditions" and from the position both sides held before any strikes took place.

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Talks between the two sides broke down at the end of last month after FBU membership rejected a compromise deal to move to shift times of 11-hour days and 13-hour nights.

The dispute began more than a year ago, when management said it wanted firefighters to move to two equal shifts of 12 hours instead of a nine-hour day and 15-hour night.

Brigade chiefs said the move would make efficiencies of more than 4m, but the union said the move was unacceptable on family-friendliness grounds and claimed it would lead to less fire cover at night.

Yesterday, fire chiefs called on the union to stop attaching conditions to negotiations and to move to the arbitration process as quickly as possible.

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A spokesman said: "This is a dispute about shift times, and that is what we should be asking ACAS to arbitrate on. The FBU's preconditions are completely unnecessary, and are not issues for ACAS in any case.

"Work routines and night time rest periods are already covered by national conditions of service which we have repeatedly confirmed we would adhere to.

"This dispute is frustrating everyone concerned, not least the public who we serve."

Nobody from the FBU was available last night to comment on the outcome of the meeting.