ONCE a settlement is reached and striking firefighters are back on duty, none of the sides involved in the pay dispute will be able to claim victory -- not the Government, nor the firemen and certainly not the union officials.
Because the stigma of a number of people losing their lives in the first 48-hour strike is there for all to see, whether the trained firemen had been on duty or not.
The only people to come out of this fiasco with our grateful appreciation are the armed forces, who once again take on a job with great risks to their lives, without complaining, just get on with it.
Let's hope they never decide to go on strike when called upon to do jobs they are not really trained for.
Mr J Bailey
Egham Court
Tonge Moor, Bolton
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