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| Firefighters to strike over eight days in August - FBU | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Firefighters in England and Wales are to stage a fresh series of strikes over eight days in an ongoing row over pensions, the Fire Brigades Union says. | |
| The strikes, from 9 August, will be held for a few hours each day over eight consecutive days, it said. | |
| The union has said government reforms will see firefighters working for longer and having their pensions cut. | |
| The government has previously said the deal on offer was "one of the most generous" in the public sector. | |
| It is the latest in a series of strikes by firefighters in England and Wales in a three-year dispute with the government. | |
| Fitness test fears | |
| The row centres on ministers' plans to raise firefighters' retirement age from 55 to 60 and increase their pension contributions. | |
| The FBU said it feared many members could fail the fitness tests required to remain on active duty in their late 50s, and therefore have to leave the service. | |
| But the government said the deal on offer was fair. |