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FIREFIGHTERS confirmed plans yesterday for a 24-hour walkout next week in their continuing fight over pensions and retirement age.
Staff across England will walk out from 7am next Wednesday, when many will join a Fire Brigades Union (FBU) demonstration in Westminster.
The announcement comes after an elaborate back-out by authorities from concessions made after the previous strikes. In December fire minister Penny Mordaunt said any firefighter over 55 who failed a fitness test would be redeployed or given an unreduced pension. But now fire authorities have refused to commit to this “ministerial guarantee.”
FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: “Firefighters still face the choice of either being sacked or receiving a severely reduced pension if they fail fitness tests as a result of naturally declining fitness through age. Exactly the opposite of what the minister told Parliament.”
The strike will be the 66th time FBU members have walked out since the bitter row over pensions and retirement age broke out two years ago.
