Firemen set for all-out strike

LEADERS of 27,000 firemen may issue a national strike call over their pay claim at their delegate conference next week, militant members of the Fire Brigades Union told the Militants expect that either resolutions for a national stoppage or selective stoppages in areas with big fire risks will be passed.

This will meet opposition from their 15-man executive who will meet on Thursday to discuss a possible escalation of their present emergencycalls-only protest.

I understand that overtime bans and bans on shift working will be considered, in preparation for recommendations for further action they will be putting to the delegate meeting on Tuesday next 100 PER CENT But militants in the union claim that support for strike action will be near 100 per cent.

They point out that firemen in Scotland, N Ireland, Newcastle, Liverpool, Coventry come out for a national or selective withdrawal of labour.

The firemen are demanding a substantial pay rise.

So far employers under gov. ernment pressure have offered what amounts to a 35s increase on the present rate of £27 10s for 56 hours.

FEELING

Many militants however want the £38 a week earned by firemen in airports.

en Bonter, union secretary f London 'H' Division, which covers a wide area of SE London, said that men in his area were ready to strike.

'We will be supporting the call for strike action on Tuesday. I am 100 per cent certain it will go through. I know the feeling on the union's district committees in the provinces.

'We have the assurances from firemen's stewards on airports that they will support us in any action, they are very sympathetic with our struggle for a decent wage for decent hours,' he said.

Newcastle firemen are the latest to call for full-scale strike action and in Liverpool off-duty men will march . in full uniform to the town hall on Friday where they will hand in a petition on the wage claim to the Lord Mayor.

Mr H. S. Burgess,. secretary of the Liverpool FBU told the pool men 'certainly were not ruling out strike action.

'We will listen to what the executive council has to say on Tuesday and make up our mind then, but we strongly feel that something militant has to be done, said Mr Burgess.

In London yesterday a spokesman for the FBU said that it was 'quite obvious' that the government had intervened to stop the employers awarding an 'inflationary' increase.

INSTRUCTION

"The Home Secretary called the employers side of the National Joint Council for the service and I'm sure he instructed them not to offer what this government considers to be an excessive rise.' He said the union has been prepared to recommend à 10 per cent increase to its members, but not one that includes the already agreed two-hour reduction in basic hours as the employers were insisting.

At present provincial fire men earn £16 2s for a 46-hou week rising to f2l Is 8d aft seven years' service.

addition they receive £l 6s 10d for two hours a week compulsory overtime, plus f4 15s 10d for an eighthour-a-week bonus shift.

This means a fireman earns £22 4s 8d in his first year of service rising to £27 4s 4d after seven years.

They have been operating the present emergency-callsonly service since the end of September.