LONDON (AP) -- Soldiers manned antiquated fire trucks and firefighters stood on picket lines Saturday, as politicians and union leaders traded blame for a national walkout by Britain's fire service.
Troops and their outdated military ``Green Goddess'' engines were called to several serious blazes overnight, filling in for 50,000 firefighters who walked off the job Friday morning.
A 27-year-old man died in a house fire in Eccles, south of London -- the first fatal fire of this strike. A military team at the scene was joined by striking firefighters who left their picket line to battle the blaze.
The Latest on the StrikeFriday, Nov. 22Six-House Blaze 'Could Have Been Worse'Support for Firefighters Cools DownStrikers Sick Over Walk OutGrim Warning by Union Leader as Crews Walk OutPolitical Spin Has Pickets Fired UpFire Strike Begins as Talks StallSombre Mood As Alarm Goes to Launch Firefighters' StrikeReluctant Firefighters Join Second National StrikeFirefighters Warn Lives Will Be LostThursday, Nov. 21Anger at Fire Chief's SalaryTuesday, Nov. 19Britain: Firefighters Speak On StrikeStrikers Break Picket Line for Hit-and-RunThe firefighters began an eight-day strike to back their demand for a hefty pay increase after last-minute talks with local authorities broke down early Friday.
Both the Fire Brigades Union and employers said they had been near a deal, and blamed Prime Minister Tony Blair's government for scuttling the negotiations.
``You have got a group of trade unionists who have not taken industrial action for 25 years. They reached an agreement with their employers and suddenly some mysterious hand stepped in and stopped the agreement, scuppered the agreement,'' said Bill Morris, leader of the Transport and General Workers Union
``It is almost as if someone does not want this agreement to succeed,'' he told the British Broadcasting Corp.
The union had demanded a 40 percent pay raise -- to take a firefighter's basic salary to $49,600 -- but had said it would consider a 16-percent increase. Local authorities that employ the firefighters offered 16 percent, but said any wage increase must be linked to cost-saving changes in working practices.
Blair's government insists no more money was available to fund a pay settlement and has warned against allowing inflationary raises.
Fire Service Minister Nick Raynsford said the proposed deal was not affordable.
``We were presented with the prospect of literally several hundreds of millions of pounds of expenditure without any means of verifying that the modernization which is fundamental to this could actually be achieved and we were being asked to fund it,'' he told the BBC. ``Now are you really surprised that we said we really can't agree on this basis?''
Raynsford said he hoped talks to end the strike would resume soon. The dispute has already divided British opinion.
Most newspapers Saturday criticized both the union and the government. In an editorial, The Guardian said ``nobody involved in the fire strike _ government, employers or union _ has come well out of the last 48 hours.''
The Times called the strike was ``indefensible'' and the union's pay demand ``unconscionable,'' but the Daily Mirror accused the ``macho Labor (Party)'' of wanting ``a fight to the death'' with the union.
Firefighters walked out last week for 48 hours -- their first national strike in 25 years. Some observers have expressed fears that 19,000 soldiers will not be able to cope with the current longer strike, and two more planned to begin Dec. 4 and Dec. 16.
On Wednesday, chief of defense staff Adm. Sir Michael Boyce said he was ``extremely concerned'' that the strike was affecting troops' training and morale.
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