Talks bring progress in long-running fire dispute

PROGRESS is expected today in the long-running fire service dispute in South Yorkshire.

The Fire Brigades Union and the service's controlling Fire Authority met for arbitration in their dispute over working patterns on Monday.

That meeting was held with the National Joint Council, the service's recognised negotiating body, and the FBU was expected to meet this morning, followed by a meeting of South Yorkshire Fire Authority later in the day to discuss developments.

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The dispute surrounds plans to change the working pattern of long night shifts and shorter days to a common time of 12 hours per shift. The union says the plan would disrupt firefighters' domestic lives.

A series of strikes was held late last year before fresh negotiations started. The fire authority had threatened to sack its workforce and re-employ them on new contracts before the NJC arbitration took place.

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