TUC General Secretary says that no one will win a protracted dispute

NOW is not the time for recriminations about what went wrong last Thursday night. We need to keep a cool head and get the talks back on track.

No one will win a protracted dispute, especially one that was so close to settlement.

My message to the Government is to look again at the agreement that the Fire Brigades Union and employers were ready to sign.

It provides the best basis we have to deliver the fair pay, decent opportunities and modern fire service we all want. Ministers must use it to work out how we can restart negotiations.

Over the last few days I have not always been sure they were talking about the same draft I and Brendan Barber from the TUC helped the FBU and employers construct last Thursday night.

The employers liked it - and last Thursday we assumed the Government did too. But now ministers say the pay rise of 16 per cent is excessive. Yet the pay levels were almost precisely those set out by John Prescott in the Commons on Thursday.

Before talks broke down, both sides had agreed if employers and union cannot reach agreement, the matter will be referred to three people - from the TUC, the Audit Commission and an independent chairperson - and accept their ruling.

Neither unions nor employers give away their rights easily so that commitment to binding arbitration is most unusual. I saw it as a testament to the commitment of both sides to avoid a damaging new strike.

This should not become a showdown between unions and a Labour government - the difference between the sides is far smaller than the strong language suggests.

Now is a time for cool heads, calm words and a return to negotiations.

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