Firefighters in England are to strike again next week to defend their pensions.

A 24-hour stoppage taking place from 9am on Tuesday December 9 was announced yesterday by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU).

The government plans to change the firefighters’ pension scheme in a way which the union says will make it “unaffordable and unworkable.”

The changes include forcing firefighters to continue front line work until they are 60 — or lose part of their pensions if they cannot meet stringent fitness levels.

The dispute has been running for three years.

Opposition to the plans has won support in the House of Commons through an early day motion (EDM 454) opposing draft regulations.

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: “Firefighters in England are reluctantly calling further strike action today as a direct result of the Westminster government’s failure to listen and negotiate over pensions.

“Firefighters are asking the Westminster government to immediately open genuine negotiations to resolve this dispute,

“It is sickening that the only part of the UK where the fire minister refuses to engage in genuine negotiations is England. We cannot accept that firefighters in England will be penalised simply because the Westminster government refuses to consider the evidence or even read its own reports on the risks to firefighter fitness related to ageing.

“We have won the argument on this issue for the past three years. We face a government which refuses to negotiate or even to listen to reason. Therefore this fight will carry on.”

Labour’s London Assembly fire spokeswoman Fiona Twycross urged the government to back down from its “no-negotiations stance” and properly listen to the legitimate concerns of firefighters.