THE dispute between firefighters and the government could drag on into the new year the Fire Brigade Union warned today.

A number of walkouts by union members have taken place over the last few weeks and a fresh strike has been called for next Wednesday.

However, a local MP has said that while he supports the fire service, he does not feel striking is correct action to take.

The disagreement is over government proposals to increase the amount of pension contributions and to extend the age of retirement.

Up to this point, action has simply taken the form of strikes but the FBU is set to ballot its members on action which stops short of a strike.

If successful it could take a range of forms from just answering serious call-outs to not taking part in drills.

Brent Thorley, secretary for the South West brach of the FBU, is concerned industrial action could continue until the new year.

He said: “The most obvious form of action would be to refuse to work overtime.

“This is the most effective way of causing a headache to the government without causing an inconvenience to the public.

“We will be continuing walkouts but we want to have as little effect as possible on the people we are serving.

“Unfortunately, as it stands I am concerned this action will go for some time as the government have signalled they intend to take us on and we are more or less where we started.”

A strike in the middle of October was called off after an offer from the government was made.

However, the cost of this agreement would have fallen on local authorities who said they could not guarantee the offer.

Without these guarantees the union said they could not accept the deal so it was withdrawn.

Mr Thorley said: “Taking this offer off the table is a backward step. It appears to have been done to avoid a fight between the minister and local authorities but it has meant we are back to square one.

“We have all accepted that we will have to make some level of sacrifice but far too much is being asked of us.

“All we want are meaningful talks so we can get back to what we want to do and that is protecting the public.”

Robert Buckland, the MP for South Swindon, said: “I fully support the firefighters of Swindon and do have a degree of sympathy with some of them.

“However, I don’t think striking is the correct course of action. Negotiations are still ongoing and I don’t think walking out is helping matters.

“My door is always open to union members who want to come and talk about the situation.”

The fire strike next Wednesday will take place between 10am and 2pm. As with the previous strikes, the most recent of which took place last Monday and Friday, it is expected that Drove Road, Stratton and Westlea fire stations will be out of action with cover coming from Royal Wootton Bassett and Cricklade, as well as a single appliance in the town centre.