Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service staff to strike over staffing levels

Union members at Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service control room will walk out on 27 December

A fire service's control room workers are to stage eight consecutive days of strike action in a row over staffing.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said its members at Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service's (MFRS) control room would walk out on 27 December.

The union said the dispute was over a reduction in night-time staffing numbers and a new duty shift rota.

MFRS said the proposal increased staffing numbers from 32 to 35 and included a "significant" pay rise.

The FBU said the eight-day strike would seriously disrupt the service, both on Merseyside and across the UK, and urged employers to come forward with a credible offer.

Union members initially voted to strike in August and rejected an offer from employers in the last week.

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said "imposing" contracts on firefighters and "downgrading" working conditions was "a threat to public safety".

"Control room staff have emphatically backed industrial action to defend their conditions and their fire service - and the intransigence of employers gives us no choice but to use that mandate," he said.

"The cost of resolving this dispute would be minimal.

"The cost of not resolving it is major disruption to the fire service."

An MFRS representative said the service had been surprised by the proposed strike action as it believed an agreement had been reached and it had "not been given any detailed explanation as to why our proposal... has been rejected".

They said the only area of contention was the change from six staff during the day shift and six staff of a night shift, to seven in the day and five at night.

They added that MFRS remained open to explore ways to avoid the action with the FBU and reassured the public the response to emergencies during the proposed strike period would be "unaffected".