PAY OFFER AN ‘INSULT’ TO FIREFIGHTERS

FIREFIGHTERS across Scotland are being urged to back the first strike over pay in two decades after a union blasted a below-inflation deal as “insulting”.

Ballots asking if the Fire Brigades Union should strike will begin dropping through members’ doors on Monday.

It follows an indicative vote earlier this year in which the majority of firefighters reject a five per cent pay rise. John McKenzie, the union’s secretary in Scotland, urged members to back the walk out and said they have had £4000 “in real terms eroded from their pay over the last decade”.

“Our members are not prepared to tolerate any further erosion of their living standards,” he warned.

“With inflation soaring to 11 per cent and the price of food, energy and everyday items going through the roof, a five per cent offer is an insult to firefighters.”

Earlier this year, hundreds of firefighters demonstrated outside Holyrood to call for higher wages and increased staffing.

If the more than 33,000 members of the union across the UK walk out, it would be the first national strike since pension action between 2013 and 2015, and the first on pay since between 2002 and 2003.

McKenzie said: “The Scottish Government and employers across the UK must come up with a fair offer that fully recognises the cost-of-living crisis if we are to avoid strike action.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Firefighter pay is negotiated through UK-wide collective bargaining arrangements, which includes SFRS. The Scottish Government is not part of these arrangements.

“We would encourage both sides to continue negotiating to reach a fair deal.”