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Firefighters to ministers: No gambling with our lives

Firefighters strike to halt 'work till you drop' pensions plans

Firefighters took to picket lines across England and Wales to get cuts-mad ministers to scrap plans to make them work until they drop.

Proud emergency workers stationed a few hundred metres away from the Labour conference in Brighton were boosted by fellow trade unionists who turned up to back the four-hour strike.

Fire authority bosses sparked anger in Tory Surrey by locking out firefighters who turned up to work the rest of the shift, drafting in scabs and docking a full day's pay.

Buckinghamshire backed down on a similar threat at the 11th hour.

The dispute centres on Con-Dem plans to raise the retirement age for firefighters to 60 - years beyond even the government's estimate of the viable age to do the physically demanding job.

Fire Brigades Union (FBU) members warn that this will force front-line workers to choose between the sack on "capability" grounds or retiring early and taking big pension cuts.

Firefighters currently pay 14.5 per cent of their wages into pensions to make up for a shorter working life.

FBU leader Matt Wrack visited pickets in Brighton and told the Star that the walkout was a "warning shot."

"It demonstrates the anger of members," he said. "We don't want to be on strike."

Local branch official Steve Liszka said: "We are loath to strike. We're aware of the consequences - that's why the decision was taken at the 11th hour.

"We want to negotiate a deal - it's down to whether the government is willing to liwsten."

Mr Liszka explained the gruesome work that he and colleagues have to do, including cutting people from mangled cars and carrying charred bodies from burned-out buildings. "It's an extraordinary job - the challenges are unique."

He said: "I'm in my mid-30s and fit. I find the demands of the job very hard.

"It's knackering. Afterwards I'm exhausted. It's not the right thing for a 60-year-old to do."

Mr Liszka said the pensions assault had seen members' anger at relentless cuts bubble over.

"If the Fire Service keeps cutting, it will result in a tragedy," he warned.

East Sussex FBU regional secretary Jim Parrott said firefighters "have had enough."

He said: "Sixty per cent wouldn't be able to reach retirement - they'll be sacked on capability grounds," he said.

A four-year wage freeze and a decade of cuts to appliances and jobs mean more firefighters are dying - from none in the 10 years before 2002 to 27 since.

One senior firefighter rubbished Tory ministers' claims that he and his colleagues were getting "gold-plated" £26,000 pensions.

"I'll have worked for 32 years once I retire and I'll have £14,000 a year to live off," he said.

Shadow fire minister Chris Williamson said firefighters faced a "Hobson's choice" of pensions cuts or the sack.

He pledged to put the Fire and Rescue Service at the front of the funding queue if Labour wins the 2015 election.

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