Scud,
Yes, I quite agree - the Police work far harder, have more stress on a day-to-day basis, don't whinge nearly as much as the Firefighters and don't (can't!) go on strike.
It was RW31 who first brought up the comparison and initially I was sceptical about his claims of a £5k difference between the Fire Service and Police. I went to look around and found that after 5 years in, there is no disparity worth mentioning (well, actually there is a slight difference at present as the Firemen don't yet receive the new pay award - it's still in dispute, but it is to be backdated whenever an agreement is finally reached). The source you quote for Fire Service rates of pay is from the FBU's website, but only up to the pay award of last November (not yet implemented) and doesn't include the award of June this year (likewise), which is the one I stumbled across and which gives the figure of £25k for a Fire Fighter after 5 years service (assuming fully qualified). This was the figure bandied around by some of the Politicians and FBU officials as being the agreed value of a Fire Fighter (well, OK, the FBU only came down to this figure after climbing down from their initial crazy figure of £30k). You can find the figures at
www.fireservice.co.uk which is an independent website operated by several Firefighters off their own backs.
Just thought I'd clear that up - I don't support another strike in the slightest as it will severely disadvantage far more members of the Armed Forces than just those who happen to go off to fight fires (although they obviously get the really sh**y end of a sh** stick). As I've said before, I think they should not have the right to strike at all, and if they continue in their current vein may soon find themselves in that position anyway - I'm sure that His Toniness and Fat Prezza are angling for this anyway...
Watch this space - just because Parliament are on their summer recess and His Toniness is off sunning himself in Tuscany (or wherever he's gone this year for his free holiday) doesn't mean that the wheels of Government don't keep grinding on. I'm sure the Labour Party hierarchy are itching for a good scrap come the autumn and it will certainly boost their re-election campaign if they can break the FBU in the run up to a General Election.
As I've challenged RW31 before - you state that you don't want to go on strike and that you joined the Fire Service in the first place to save lives, so fine, take a moral stance, do the right thing and categorically state here and now that you're going to vote against industrial action and then go out and persuade your fellow Firefighters to do the same - bet you can't! If you're right about this being one big conspiracy to engineer another strike, then aren't you aiding and abetting that by voting for a strike? Double standards me thinks...