BREAKING: Firefighters strike in UK cancelled after latest pay offer accepted by FBU members

The planned national strike by firefighters in the UK has been averted after FBU members accepted the government’s latest pay offer.

The planned national strike by UK firefighters has been cancelled today, Monday, March 6, after Fire Brigades Union (FBU) members accepted the government’s latest pay offer. An FBU spokesperson said that in an 84 per cent turnout, approximately 96 per cent of its members voted in favour of a 12 per cent pay increase.

📢After nine months of campaigning, our pay dispute is at an end. Firefighters will now receive a 7% backdated pay rise and another 5% this July.

🚒The strength and unity of FBU members won this result, and collective bargaining was crucial.

Our fight goes on ✊ pic.twitter.com/1mXVOjbJBZ

— Fire Brigades Union (@fbunational) March 6, 2023

As a result, firefighters will receive a 7 per cent pay rise backdated to July 2022. From this coming July, another 5 per cent will be added. The scheduled industrial action would have been the first in Britain for 20 years had it gone ahead. No actual date had been set for the strike after a vote in favour by union members in January. They were unhappy after what they said was a decade of real-term pay cuts.

He added: “The FBU leadership has been determined not to sugar-coat the offer. For the current year, 7 per cent is still another real-terms pay cut. For the following year (July 2023 to July 2024), when inflation is forecast to be lower, 5 per cent may amount to a slight increase in real-terms pay”.

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