Firefighter strike 'risk to public'

South Yorkshire's chief fire officer Mark Smitherman said he reacted with "absolute astonishment" when the FBU rejected his offer of negotiation and decided to press ahead with the actions planned to begin at 6pm on Friday.

The stoppage will be the second in South Yorkshire this week and is the latest stage in a long running dispute between the FBU and the South Yorkshire Fire Authority over proposed changes to shift patterns.

Speaking at his Sheffield HQ, Mr Smitherman said he had put a fresh offer to negotiate to the union on Thursday which had been rejected.

The fire chief said: "My reaction to the rejection by the Fire Brigades Union of the proposals put forward by the authority ... is absolute astonishment. I'm amazed the Fire Brigades Union can still continue to refuse to get involved in negotiations. As far as I can work out, the authority is meeting all of their requirements regarding the most recent press releases and statements they have made in the media."

The dispute erupted over proposals to implement a 12-hour shift pattern, instead of the current pattern of nine-hour days and 15-hour nights. Firefighters have argued new shift patterns would present families with problems, especially over childcare arrangements.

The FBU has continually said it will not call off the action unless a threat to sack 744 firefighters as a means of imposing new contracts was withdrawn.

Mr Smitherman reiterated his view that his changes would not affect anyone's pay and all jobs and current levels of fire cover would be maintained. He also said the firefighters working pattern of two day shifts, two night shifts and then four days off left ample time for family life.

Mr Smitherman continued: "Their (the FBU) actions at the moment are placing the public at risk unnecessarily because there is an option for them to enter into negotiations".

He also said he was "perplexed" as to why the union was taking this stance in the South Yorkshire service. He said: "At least four others have introduced identical changes and a couple have introduced vastly different and more complex changes to the shift system pattern to what we are proposing here and all of that has been done with the agreement of the FBU."