FIREFIGHTERS in Cheshire are due to stage a further round of strikes during the Christmas and New Year period.

The Fire Brigades Union has announced plans to stage walk outs between 7pm-midnight on Christmas Eve, between 6.30pm-12.30am on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and between 6.30am-8.30am on Friday, January 3.

The strikes are part of a nationwide dispute over proposed cuts to firefighters’ pensions.

FBU General Secretary, Matt Wrack, said: “Firefighters provide a first-class standard of service 24-hours a day, 365 days a year, and these strikes will remind government just how reliant they are on our members’ professionalism, commitment and flexibility.

“However, there should be no need for industrial action, and it’s absurd that firefighters’ concerns over pensions have not been addressed already.

“The Government must stop claiming they are negotiating when they have refused to talk for two months and insist on forcing through proposals that are unaffordable, unworkable and unfair.

“By simply conceding common sense and allowing firefighters a fair deal, the government could end this industrial action today.”

FBU members in England and Wales will stop work apart from those working in control centres.

The latest round of strikes are the seventh, eighth and ninth to take place as part of the current dispute.