PRESS RELEASE : Firefighters launch consultative ballot on pay [October 2022]

The press release issued by the Fire Brigades Union on 31 October 2022.

Firefighters and fire control staff are being balloted today over to whether accept a 5% pay offer from employers.

The Fire Brigades Union’s executive council is recommending that members vote to reject the offer, which represents a significant real-terms pay cut and follows a decade of real-terms pay cuts in the fire and rescue service.

This is a consultative ballot on the pay offer itself, with rejection not automatically leading to strike action.

In this consultative ballot, members can vote online or by post. Online and postal ballots are being sent out today Monday 31st October, with the ballot closing on Monday 14 November.

It is known that members using online ballots means a higher return, and so members are advised to register their email address with the union so they can receive an electronic ballot.

Members can do this by emailing membershipservices@fbu.org.uk. Please note that only personal email addresses can be accepted, not fire service email addresses, and it would also be helpful for members to include their date of birth, brigade and membership number (if you know it) in the email.

Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary, said:

We are a democratic union led by our members. It is firefighters and control staff who will decide any action that the union takes on pay. Firefighters have been treated appallingly by their employers, and by the government over the last decade. Pay is down by nearly £4,000 in real terms and that is why the union’s executive council is recommending that members reject this latest offer.

Our members worked throughout the pandemic to help protect their communities. They delivered food, moved the bodies of the dead and delivered other vital extra duties. To try and thank them with a massive real-terms pay cut is absolutely disgusting. Our members have had enough.