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Fire Strike On as Pay Talks Fail
Tuesday, November 12, 2002
(22:37 GMT)
The BBC

Mr. Gilchrist said the union had spent six months trying to negotiate a way through the dispute. But he said there had been two "despicable interruptions" by the government who, he said, seemed intent on provoking a national strike action in the fire service.

Firefighters will go ahead with a national strike on Wednesday after their union rejected the 11% pay offer recommended by an independent review.

Firefighters' leader Andy Gilchrist angrily rejected both the pay offer and the review, saying government interventions in the pay dispute had been "despicable."

The 48-hour national strike will start on Wednesday evening.

Three other eight-day strikes are planned for before Christmas -- the first national walkouts for 25 years.

Tony Blair said the strike was "wrong, unjustified, unnecessary."

His official spokesman said the prime minister did not think the public would think it was the "right way to carry on."

Firefighter employers said they would not give in to "bully boy tactics."

John Rainsford, of the Local Government Association, said there was a need for a more "streamlined, focused and flexible" fire service and an end to "restrictive union practices."

He said: "We will not yield to unrealistic union wage demands nor capitulate to bully boy tactics designed to hold this country to ransom and put lives at risk."

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2002 © The British Broadcasting Corporation.

Dan