Controller Friendly - you should choose your friends and your words more carefully, the retained fire service are not on strike, never have been, and it's very unlikely that they ever will be.
These guys don't do the retained job for the money - less than 50p an hour for being on call, but they face the same risks as the full time brigade members who can't seem to accept that until they are employed by private enterprise, they will not be in a position to negotiate a pay rise which is above the public sector norm'.
Get back to us when you have something sensible to say, rather than the rantings of a neanderthol.