Firefighters accept staged rise

Many firefighters are angry about the pay offer

Firefighters have voted to accept the latest phase of their 7% pay deal despite anger over the increase being in two stages, their union has said.

Fire Brigades Union members voted by three to one in favour of the deal on Friday, ending the threat of further industrial action.

The turnout in a ballot of 53,000 firefighters was 56%, the union said.

Earlier this month firefighters staged unofficial action over the fact the 7% increase would be paid in two stages.

Half of the 7% will be paid now and the rest next year - to be backdated after agreed changes to the service.

Under a pay agreement reached in June, 4% was paid immediately to firefighters, backdated to last November.

A further 7% was due this month, followed by a final rise of 4.2% next summer, lifting the pay of a typical qualified firefighter to £25,000.

We can now get on with modernising the fire service Local authority employers

Striking firefighters said they had expected the rise to be paid in one go - but employers said the FBU had always known it would be staged.

The first stage of 3.5% was paid on 7 November and the rest will be paid in the new year after it is ratified by the Audit Commission.

The June deal ended the long running firefighters' dispute, which saw Army Green Goddess vehicles replacing fire engines.

A local authority employers spokeswoman said: "We are very pleased with the result of the ballot.

"We can now get on with modernising the fire service."

We had a deal and they broke it without gaining anything but the disgust of the public FBU general secretary Andy Gilchrist

Scottish firefighters' employers, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, said the settlement was a significant step forward.

But FBU general secretary Andy Gilchrist said many firefighters would now be questioning the management's ability to implement the agreed changes.

"The decision to stagger the rise in two stages was pointless, self-defeating and an industrial relations disaster," he said.

"It caused widespread unofficial action and wiped out months of hard work trying to rebuild trust and confidence.

"We had a deal and they broke it without gaining anything but the disgust of the public."

But Mr Gilchrist welcomed the vote to accept the staggered rise.

The firefighters had made "a mature and difficult decision" despite the "utter stupidity" of their employers, he said.