Firefighters in Northern Ireland poised to join wave of strikes as ballot results expected today

A senior official in the Fire Brigades Union told the News Letter strike dates could be announced as soon as next week if, as expected, members deliver a ‘yes’ vote when the ballot concludes later today.

This comes after two pay offers, negotiated on a UK-wide basis, were rejected.

A further meeting with employers is due to take place next week and union members are hopeful a “meaningful offer” will be put forward.

Jim Quinn, speaking to the News Letter ahead of today’s ballot results, said: “Our pay is negotiated UK wide every July. This July, the employers made an offer of 2%, first of all, and we rejected that following consultation with our members. They increased their offer to 5% later on in the year. That 5% was put back to a consultative ballot and it was rejected by a 78% turnout and a 79% rejection of it.”

The Fire Brigades Union official continued: “After that, we decided we would go to ballot for industrial action. The industrial action ballot started in early December and it ends this Monday, the 30th.

“We have scheduled another meeting with the employers for in-and-around the eighth of February. Hopefully, at that point, there may be an acceptable offer on the table UK wide. If there isn’t, at that point, we will likely be announcing strike dates.”

He added: “Obviously that will be the case if we get the ballot result to do so, but we are expecting a strong yes vote given the strong support in consultation. We are expecting a positive outcome in terms of proposing to take industrial action should a proper and meaningful offer not be made to us at the February meeting.”

Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said: Firefighters have faced a sustained attack on pay for more than a decade, with average pay falling by about £4,000 in real terms.”

“Our members face hazardous situations every day, and sometimes risk their health to do the job.”