All governments in the UK seem to want to resolve the firefighters pension dispute through discussion with the FBU, with the exception of the Westminster government who are imposing an unworkable pension scheme and unfairly penalising firefighters in England.
On Wednesday firefighters in England will walk out for 24 hours from 7am over the unworkable pension scheme Westminster wants to implement. A scheme that all other devolved governments have recognised as problematic and made improvements on.
Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “Government ministers have ignored three written requests in the last few weeks by the union to meet to try to resolve this dispute.
“Government ministers are quick to call this union ‘militant’ and yet it’s them who still refuse to talk to us when we remain ready to meet and negotiate at any time.
“Firefighters from all across the UK are attending a rally in Westminster on Wednesday in a No More Lies protest aiming to hold this government accountable for the way it has misled Parliament, the public and firefighters alike.”
This will coincide with a 24 hour strike by firefighters in England.
The strike is confined to England because;
- The Scottish government have significantly improved its earlier pension offer to take account of a concern that firefighters are being unfairly penalised if they retire at age 55.
- The Welsh government have recently followed suit and also improved its offer I this way.
- In Northern Ireland, legislation has been agreed that firefighters should be able to retire with an unreduced pension from age 55 instead of the 60 that has been imposed elsewhere.
