An attempt top force through 250 job losses and impose new 12 hour shifts onto Greater Manchester Firefighters which began back around July looks set to hot up with the start of a legal process involving the sacking of the whole workforce and rehiring only those agreeing to a new contract. A short news story here: www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=3465 and updates on the FBU site.
Is this part of a UK nationwide move following further public sector funding cuts?
The employers have backed off
The employers have backed off the wholesale sacking threat and the FBU have agreed to enter further negotiations but the pressure is still on to cut the number of jobs so we will see who buckles first in this 'standoff'.