The 2017 Autumn budget has failed to deliver any substanial improvements for workers in the public sector, the leader of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has said.
Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “Seven years of pay restraint on public sector workers has been seven years too long. It was and still is unsustainable. Firefighters, like all public sector workers, desperately deserve a pay rise. In his budget, Phillip Hammond failed to even mention them in his nearly 8,000 word speech.
“This Christmas we will have members forced to use foodbanks in order to feed their family. The budget was a chance for Phillip Hammond to reign in the damaging policies that have caused this to happen. He failed miserably.
“The one welcome move is the news that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is to be exempted from paying VAT bringing them in line with other fire services across the UK. This will save the service millions of pounds each year. We now call for those funds to be reinvested back into the fire service.”
