John
10-16-2010, 01:49 PM
London firefighters have announced they will stage two eight-hour strikes in a row over new contracts.
Members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) will walkout from 10am on both October 23 and November 1 after voting 3-1 in favour of industrial action.
They had given the brigade until Friday to withdraw proposals to shorten the night shift of frontline firefighters in favour of a longer day shift.
The FBU has said the changes effectively sacked workers.
The union's General Secretary Matt Wrack said: "Firefighters hate going on strike, but they hate being bullied even more.
"The London Fire Brigade needs to lift the sacking notices and start negotiating properly," he said, adding the FBU is ready to talk.
The brigade has insisted the changes are necessary to improve services.
A spokesman said: "The changes would significantly increase the productive time available during the day shift for essential training and community fire safety work to be arranged.
"For instance, firefighters now prevent fires by visiting Londoners in their homes, fitting free smoke alarms and offering advice on preventing fires.
"The new start and finish times would also mean less disruption to services during a crucially busy period of the day.
Contingency cover has already been drawn up to deal with the industrial action.
Source - Yahoo.
Members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) will walkout from 10am on both October 23 and November 1 after voting 3-1 in favour of industrial action.
They had given the brigade until Friday to withdraw proposals to shorten the night shift of frontline firefighters in favour of a longer day shift.
The FBU has said the changes effectively sacked workers.
The union's General Secretary Matt Wrack said: "Firefighters hate going on strike, but they hate being bullied even more.
"The London Fire Brigade needs to lift the sacking notices and start negotiating properly," he said, adding the FBU is ready to talk.
The brigade has insisted the changes are necessary to improve services.
A spokesman said: "The changes would significantly increase the productive time available during the day shift for essential training and community fire safety work to be arranged.
"For instance, firefighters now prevent fires by visiting Londoners in their homes, fitting free smoke alarms and offering advice on preventing fires.
"The new start and finish times would also mean less disruption to services during a crucially busy period of the day.
Contingency cover has already been drawn up to deal with the industrial action.
Source - Yahoo.