FIREFIGHTERS in Sussex are preparing to go on strike for the first time in 22 years.

They are locked in a national showdown with employers over pay and conditions.

The Fire Brigades Union, which represents all full-time firefighters and many part-time staff in the county, is expected to vote tomorrow in favour of a national ballot for strike action.

More than 1,000 firefighters, over two thirds of the workforce in Sussex, could then be on strike within three months.

It would almost certainly mean the Army being called in to provide cover with their Green Goddess fire trucks, just as they did during the national strike of 1977.

Ernie Thornton, FBU spokesman for the South East, said: "This the most serious situation we have seen in the fire service since 1977.

"People need to remember that strike only took place because the employers would not listen. We don't want to see the Green Goddesses back. We don't want that to happen.

"But we have to put our message across strongly. We are not going to take this."

After nearly a year of negotiations, changes are being proposed by the 58 fire authorities in Britain. They want conditions to be set at local level rather than by the National Joint Council, on which both employers and the FBU sit.

The FBU is concerned that by negotiating at local level it will be easier for employers to attack conditions which they regard as perks, such as double pay for bank holiday shifts.

Jim Parrot, FBU brigade secretary for East Sussex and a firefighter at Roedean for 13 years, said: "We only earn an average amount. Why should we work for anything less than that?"

As the FBU's annual conference in Bridlington begins today, it is not clear whether it would be an all-out strike or a series of one day actions.

East Sussex Fire Authority will meet next month to decide on contingency plans

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