Fire service staff to strike

Fire control staff in Merseyside were due to strike for eight days from 27 December over an imposed reduction in night-time staffing numbers and the introduction of a duty shift system that, the FBU firefighters’ union says, was never subject to negotiation.

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “Imposing contracts on firefighters and downgrading working conditions is a threat to public safety. Control room staff have emphatically backed industrial action”.