Firefighters may strike over pension changes that could see them forced to work until they are 60, a senior union official has said.
Fire Brigades Union (FBU) national officer Sean Starbuck was addressing a rally outside the Scottish Parliament in protest against that issue and pension contribution rises devised by Westminster and passed on by the Scottish Government.
The FBU and the Scottish Police Federation, who also had members at Thursday’s event, are facing similar changes.
The rank-and-file police union has called for control of pensions to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
Mr Starbuck told the rally: “We are facing a pension scheme which is unworkable, unsustainable, unaffordable, unfair and has a normal pension age that people cannot work to.
“Ignoring us is not an option. The choices are that they listen to us, and that’s out of our hands, or we ballot for national strike action. At this moment in time, conference is telling us that we must do everything that we can to avoid that, but if we can’t do anything then the next step is to ballot.”
There are currently two firefighter schemes in Scotland. Firefighters had a normal pension age (NPA) of 55 but the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 1992 closed to new members from April 2006. The new scheme has an NPA of 60.
More than 200 firefighters and police officers attended the protest, with the FBU claiming their members could pay up to 17% of their wages into their pension and be forced to work until they are 60, or leave early without access to their pension.
Calum Steele, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “The position for Scotland’s police officers is simply preposterous.
“The Scottish Government can determine the number of police forces in Scotland, it has a phenomenal amount of influence over the number of police officers, it’s ultimately responsible for determining police pay, but it cannot determine how much the pension should be.”
He accused the UK Government of “extortion” by forcing the Scottish Government to choose between passing on the cut in police pensions or taking a cut in the Scottish block grant.
Tayside Police Federation secretary David Hamilton added: “We accept there has to be some change and accept there has to be some adjustments in the future, but they way (the UK Government) are doing it feels unfair.”