THE Fire Brigades Union is accusing the Government of not negotiating with them ahead of 24 hours of strike action.

In a bitter row over an "unworkable" pension scheme, firefighters in the Wyre Forest will join those throughout England from 7am tomorrow until 7am Thursday.

Coinciding with the strike, there will also be a rally in Westminster as despite three requests to talk in the run up to the strike, the English Government has ignored the union and is carrying on with the proposed pension scheme, which would see firefighters working until 60 with no protection.

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “Government ministers have ignored three written requests in the last few weeks by the union to meet to try to resolve this dispute.

“Government ministers are quick to call this union ‘militant’ and yet it’s them who still refuse to talk to us when we remain ready to meet and negotiate at any time.

“Firefighters from all across the UK are attending a rally in Westminster on Wednesday in a ‘No More Lies’ protest aiming to hold this government accountable for the way it has misled Parliament, the public and firefighters alike.”

The FBU has also accused fire minister Penny Mordaunt of misleading Parliament after she told MPs that if a firefighter loses fitness through no fault of their own, they should get another role or a full, unreduced pension.

The union said fire authorities across the country had failed to back up the minister's "guarantee".

However, even though Westminster has not negotiated with the union within England, the devolved governments have improved their pension offers, showing that there is room for change.

The Scottish government has significantly improved its earlier pension offer to take account of a concern that firefighters are being unfairly penalised if they retire at age 55. The Welsh government has recently followed suit and also improved its offer in this way. In Northern Ireland, legislation has been agreed that firefighters should be able to retire with an unreduced pension from age 55 instead of the 60 that has been imposed elsewhere.

This has resulted in no strike action in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and will only take place in England.

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service has had to put contingency plans into place to provide an reduced emergency service as firefighters strike.

Area commander Mark Preece warned the service may not attend non-emergencies as using limited resources on those may put people in an emergency situation in need at risk.

He said: "Our priority during the strike is to respond to those calls where a life may be at risk or someone needs to be rescued. If we respond to non-emergency calls then our response to those most in need could jeopardized.

"A non-emergency call could be to someone who is locked outside their house or where debris has fallen in the road. There are other agencies and organisations that can help in this instance.

"We do find ourselves in an unusual situation where we must prioritise our calls for those who are most in need of our assistance."

For more information on the strike, visit hwfire.org.uk, or for fire safety advice call 08451 224454.