FBU launches ballot on strike action in Oxfordshire over cuts to fire service

The Fire Brigades Union is launching a consultative ballot on industrial action in Oxfordshire – which the union has said could lead to nationwide strike action.

In a speech in Oxford, FBU general secretary Steve Wright addressed union officials from across the country and warned that cuts to the fire service in Oxfordshire risk damaging national resilience and would weaken public safety.

He said: “This is a local battle here in Oxfordshire – but it is also part of a national fight.

“Across the UK, our members are facing the same story. Cuts dressed up as ‘efficiency’. Cuts justified with spreadsheets and risk models. Cuts decided by the bosses from behind a desk – but lived out on the frontline.

“If you come for one fire and rescue service, you take on the whole Fire Brigades Union.”

Proposed changes to the fire service in Oxfordshire involve closing three fire stations with low on-call staffing hours, which would put some firefighters at risk of redundancy and a reduced number of fire engines.

Wright said “enough is enough” and that the union would “make no apology for fighting back” against cuts.

It comes after an interview with LabourList last month, in which Steve Wright said that the union was on an “industrial footing” and said the FBU could get to the point of taking industrial action this year.

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