blog Public services FBU rally against mass sackings in South Yorkshire 
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FBU rally against mass sackings in South Yorkshire
Firefighters and their families from across the country rallied on May Day Green in Barnsley today, protesting at the authority’s threat to sack 744 South Yorkshire Firefighters. The protest was attended by around 2000 people and addressed by Matt Wrack, General Secretary, FBU.
The protest follows attempts by the South Yorkshire Fire Service to force through new contracts requiring crews to work 12-hour day and night shifts, instead of the current 9-hour days and 15-hour nights. The Fire Brigades Union was notified of the mass sackings by fax on 30 June. It has accused the Labour controlled fire authority of bully boy tactics. The authority have tried to force through new contracts of employment and shift changes. If firefighters do not or cannot work the shifts in those new contracts - for family, childcare or other reasons - they will be sacked without redundancy payments. South Yorkshire firefighters have voted five to one in favour of strike action, but have yet to set strike dates.
FBU General Secretary Matt Wrack:
“The fire authority can’t run away from their threat to sack 744 firefighters in South Yorkshire to impose new contracts. To threaten to sack 744 firefighters, while claiming no one will lose their job, flies in the face of reality. “There is nothing modern about using the tactics of 1930s pit owners and trampling on the basic rights of workers. The offer of a one-off payment does not address the threat of mass sackings. “Firefighters want a negotiated agreement and that is still possible. Unless the threat to sack 744 firefighters is lifted there will be strike action within weeks.”
