Prescott warns fire crews pay offer may drop
In a thinly disguised threat to members of the British Fire Brigades Union yesterday, Britain's Deputy Prime Minister announced that the costs of the firefighters' ongoing strikes may impair the national government's ability to help local government employer cover the costs of the wage raise currently being offered (see WIT for Jan. 13, 2003). Although British Prime Minister Tony Blair has insisted that any raises be funded by concessions on work rules, the Deputy Prime Minister claimed that work rule changes would not result in immediate savings and that raises would initially have to be paid out of national funds that are being eaten up by the cost of emergency fire coverage during strikes. Having already condemned the government's offer of an 11.3 percent raise tied to concessions on work rule changes that include decreases in staffing levels and changes in duty schedules that firefighters have condemned as endangering them and the public (see WIT for Nov. 13, 2002), the FBU intends to go ahead with a two-day strike planned to start this morning.