Firefighters to stage new walkout

The strike will take place for 48 hours beginning from 9am next Sunday –and union bosses have threatened a further eight-day strike could follow.

Industrial relations at South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service have soured over the past year, since brigade bosses announced they planned to replace the existing 15-hour night shift and nine-hour day shift with two shifts of equal length.

The fire service said this would result in 4.4m of efficiency savings and also enable firefighters to carry out more community work but the Fire Brigades' Union (FBU) said the changes would heavily impact on family life.

Plans by the service to "dismiss" firefighters and "re-engage" them on new contracts, with different shift times, have also been referred to by the FBU as a threat to sack union members.

As a result, the FBU's 740-strong membership carried out a series of strikes in the autumn, before industrial action was called off when the union and the fire service began negotiations.

Those talks broke down at the end of last month, however, despite both brigade bosses and the FBU claiming they wanted to enter into "binding arbitration" overseen by conciliation service Acas.

Chief fire officer at South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, Mark Smitherman, said last night: "The news of this strike action is disappointing and baffling.

"It was only yesterday that we wrote to the FBU confirming our agreement to go to Acas for binding arbitration, and inviting them to a meeting to sign the terms of reference which would have ended this dispute."

Mr Smitherman added that contingency plans, of the type that were put in place during the autumn strikes, would provide "full emergency cover".

During the strikes in October and November last year more than 190 non-union members, volunteers and managers worked, enabling the service to man up to 15 fire engines and 10 smaller vehicles.

Mr Smitherman added: "We have done everything possible to resolve this dispute through negotiation.

"Considering all the job losses and pay cuts being implemented elsewhere across South Yorkshire and the UK, I would urge the FBU to get into the real world.

"We should remember that the aim of these minor changes is to improve safety for the public and our firefighters. None of our staff is losing their job and nobody is having their pay cut.

"It is a simple movement of three hours from the current night shift to the day shift, to provide us with more time to carry out community safety work and firefighter training.

"Firefighters enjoy very good terms and conditions, which will be unaffected by these changes. I will leave it up to people to make their own decisions as to whether this is an issue worthy of a strike."

A spokesman for the FBU said the union has given the fire service until Monday to withdraw the "threat to sack firefighters", otherwise a further eight-day strike may follow.

Regional secretary Ian Murray said: "It is outrageous that they have refused to stop the process of sacking our members.

"They have now withdrawn an offer of compensation that they have already made and they are attempting to set limits on what can be considered as binding by Acas.

"We have written to them on several occasions seeking to resolve this matter and offering other alternative routes which are commonly used in the fire service.

"The FBU has also spoken to Acas, fully explaining its position and why it is necessary for them to give a decision on the whole thing and not just the parts that South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue want to be considered.

"The FBU has got political support for its request to get third party assistance without any pre-conditions to end this dispute, but South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue will only agree to third party assistance with their pre-conditions."