A planned strike by firefighters due to take place in Burnham-On-Sea and others of Somerset today (Saturday) has been called off.
Members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) in the county were due to carry out industrial action for five hours between 6.30pm and 11.30pm, as reported here.
The action was due to take place in protest at the Government’s plans to increase firefighters’ pension age to 60 but productive talks between the two parties has led to the FBU calling off the strike.
The FBU said it had been presented with a deal similar to that in Scotland, whereby firefighters will be able to retire on a full pension between the ages of 55 and 60 if they are genuinely not fit enough and another role cannot be found for them.
A member of staff who does meet the fitness standards and chooses to retire early will get a reduced pension.
A final agreement has not yet been reached because negotiations will need to take place between ministers and individual fire authorities about how this will be funded.
The FBU said 32,000 union members in England and Wales walked out for four hours when it staged a first round of action on September 25th.
