FURTHER firefighters' strikes are not inevitable despite the Fire Brigades' Union rejection of a pay offer, a union representative has claimed.

Ralph Twiss, the FBU representative for Wigan and Bolton, said the recent offer was unacceptable and complained that "strings" attached to the proposed deal would worsen working conditions.

He had spoken to nearly two thirds of the firefighters he represents and the main stumbling block was not the 16pc pay offer, but planned "modernisation" of working practices. The deal would mean management could tell firefighters where and when to work, but he said firefighters hoped a compromise could be reached in the pay dispute.

and strike action could be avoided.

and at short notice,