FIREFIGHTERS in York and North Yorkshire claim they have been betrayed by the Government and left with no option but to vote for strike action.

Fire Brigades' Union (FBU) representatives in York say they don't want to vote for a strike in the ballot on August 31, but they feel they have been backed into a corner by the Government.

They claim the sticking point - an issue over the amount of overtime paid to firefighters for working bank holidays - was not part of an original deal struck in June 2003, and that every time the FBU makes a concession the Government shifts the goalposts again.

Coun Geoff Rennie, chairman of North Yorkshire Fire Authority, said: "It's got to a very sorry stage and a strike is something we all want to avoid. I'm sure the firefighters want to avoid it because if they go on strike they do it unpaid and a four-day strike would cost them more than their 3.5 per cent increase."

The FBU claims that members are still owed a 3.5 per cent pay rise from November 2003 and since July were owed a further 4.2 per cent.

They also claim the Government unfairly put paid to national pay talks at the beginning of August

York FBU brigade membership secretary Pete Clark said: "We don't want to be in a ballot situation let alone a strike, but we have been forced into it by the Government because every time we come to an agreement with the employers something new is brought in on top of what we agreed.

"We feel absolutely betrayed by the Government, but not the employers and Mr Rennie who has said he is ready to pay.

"It seems like they have deliberately forced us this way and that they wanted us to ballot."

In the Evening Press on Wednesday, Mick Hedon, regional campaigner for the FBU, said he would recommend members vote for strike action, despite a plea to all fire service staff from Coun Rennie.

Mr Hedon said a strike could come as early as September 7 if members vote in favour of industrial action.

A spokesman for Fire Services Minister Nick Raynsford at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said: "It's nonsense for the FBU to say that the Government has intervened in any way at all.

"The Government has taken no part in these negotiations."

Coun Rennie said he would be attending an emergency meeting of the fire authorities at Local Government House in London on August 25, where he will be fully briefed on the current situation.

Updated: 10:52 Monday, August 16, 2004