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The Firefighters Strike
...the story so far
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At 0900 on Friday 22 November, the fire-fighters went on an eight day strike across the United Kingdom.
However in the early hours of Friday morning, the employers and the Union agreed a pay formula which would have averted the strike. The employers referred this to the Deputy Prime Minister, who immediately vetoed the agreement.
Speaking on the Today programme, the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott put the blame firmly at the door of the FBU and the employers. He believes there was no time to analyse the document to ensure it addressed all the modernisation questions the report by Sir George Bain raised. There was also a major question over funding. The government believe any increase in salaries of the fire brigade, should be funded through modernisation - not extra cash from central government funds.
Who do you think is to blame?
The Negotiations on Thursday 21 November:
1230 GMT Thu: Fire Brigades Union leaders departed for secret talks with employers' negotiators in central London.
1615 GMT Thu: FBU said employers were only offering an increase of 4%, which would not be enough to halt the strike.
1500 GMT Thu: Union officials said further discussions would take place.
1930 GMT Thu: Further private talks were held between the negotiators.
2240 GMT Thu: Discussions halted and union officials returned to the Russell Hotel, near Euston Station.
1230 GMT Fri: Union officials left their hotel for further talks with their employers at the nearby New Connaught Rooms.
O230 GMT Fri: Talks halted and the union negotiators returned to brief other members of the union executive at the Russell Hotel. FBU general secretary Andy Gilchrist said he would wait for a call from employers before a decision would be made on whether the strike would go ahead. Ted George, a local councillor and chairman of the employers side, said: "We are getting there slowly."
0200-0300 GMT Fri: Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said he was called and asked to agree a deal but restated the government's position that any agreement has to be linked to modernisation.
O400 GMT Fri: TUC General Secretary John Monks arrived for talks with the FBU.
0430 GMT Fri: Mr Monks left saying little.
0455 GMT Fri: It is claimed the union and employers were about to sign a deal by this stage but Mr Gilchrist claims that government interference "scuppered" the agreement as it refused to pay for a funding shortfall.
0530 GMT Fri: A vote to accept the proposed deal and call off the strike was unanimous among the union's 19-member executive.
0610 GMT Fri: Mr Gilchrist said he got a phone call from one of the employers' main negotiators, Phil White, saying the Office of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott wanted to see details of the proposed deal. He replied he would wait until 0730 GMT.
O630 GMT Fri: FBU said it was prepared to accept a deal with employers. Mr Gilchrist emerged from the talks holding up a copy of a two-page agreement and said: "This is the agreement. It exists and we were prepared to suspend the strike on the basis of a 16% pay rise."
0640 GMT Fri: Mr Gilchrist said he had another call from employers saying Mr Prescott's office would not see the document before 0900 GMT. Following a brief meeting of the executive it was decided the strike would go ahead.
O730 GMT Fri: Mr Gilchrist made a statement outside the hotel saying the government had "wrecked" the talks.
0830 GMT Fri: Mr Prescott denied he had intervened to ruin the deal between employers and the union.
Instead he said he was called in the early hours but refused to sign a deal he had not yet seen.
He said agreeing a deal without seeing the terms would be like signing a "bouncing cheque."
0900 GMT Fri: The eight-day national firefighters' strike began.
LINKS
For a full history of the recent events leading up to the current strike:
The Fire Brigade's Union
- how the London Underground will be affected by the strike.
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Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott |
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FBU General Secretary Andy Gilchrist |
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