Firefighters back ballot on strikes

Firefighters' representatives voted unanimously yesterday to ballot on industrial action, bringing closer the prospect of national strikes that could last for eight days.

Leaders of the union expressed confidence that there would be an overwhelming "yes'' vote and predicted that stoppages – the first national walkouts in 25 years – could start at the end of next month.

In the absence of an improvement in a 4 per cent pay offer, an emergency session of the union's executive will discuss tactics on Tuesday. Senior union officials said they would hit employers "fast and hard''.

Andy Gilchrist, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said action would be "discontinuous'' but would "reflect the confidence and sense of purpose you saw here today".

Delegates, at a special conference in a Manchester hotel, voted by 51,849 votes to 0 to take action and none of the 20 speakers argued against the strategy.

One senior FBU source said that firefighters would concentrate on "maximum pressure in the shortest possible time" to force management back to the negotiating table.

The 242-strong conference began with a minute's silence for the New York firefighters who died on 11 September last year and continued with expressions of dismay that firefighters in Britain were expected to risk their lives for £21,500 a year.

Mr Gilchrist said that by submitting a claim for a 40 per cent pay increase, putting his members on a minimum of £30,000, the union was not "calling for the moon but for justice".