Firefighters face imposed pay as prison strike ban is set to be lifted

The Fire Service Bill giving the government powers to impose a pay settlement moved a step closer last month when it received its second reading on 8 May.

The Bill's progress may yet be overtaken by events, however, if an FBU firefighters' union recall conference later this month backs the executive's recommendation to accept the latest pay offer. The union says it "differs significantly" from previous offers.

The FBU executive argues that the employers' proposals now meet three and a half of the union's four campaign "pillars". These include a new pay formula, parity for retained fire fighters, and an evaluation of Control Staff equal pay demands. These have been won "outright".

The £30,000 claim has produced a 16% offer raising pay for a qualified fire fighter to £25,000 by next July. Overtime "will not be abused" to make up staffing shortfalls, while disputes over shifts and manning levels "will be negotiated, not imposed".

The threat of an imposed pay rise hanging over the fire service contrasts with last month's offer from home secretary David Blunkett to lift the ban on strikes in the prison service.

Blunkett told the Prison Officers Association (POA) conference last month that section 127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 would now be repealed.

The move is linked to the "success" of a voluntary agreement signed in 2001, in which the POA agreed not to induce, support or take industrial action.