Responding to claims by the English fire minister, Brandon Lewis, that documents under discussion during negotiations with the Fire Brigades Union over firefighter pensions had been under consideration by government, Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said:
“If the government has alternatives to their ludicrous pensions proposals, they must send them over for us to consider.
“At no point during negotiations did the fire minister say that any of the options being investigated constituted formal proposals.
“After three years of negotiations and nine months of industrial action, it would be infuriating if one of these documents represented proposals, but the union had been denied the chance to consider them.
“Nevertheless their existence might point the way towards a resolution to this dispute. We call on the minister to formally submit the proposals to the union as soon as possible.”
On Wednesday 11 June, the minister responded to a question from Charlotte Leslie, MP for Bristol North West, by claiming that the government was considering alternative proposals.
You can read more at www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmhansrd/cm140611/text/140611w0001.htm#14061165000066.
