Firefighters and control staff have voted overwhelmingly to go on strike after a historic ballot.
Members of the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) will walk out for the first time in 20 years as anger grows over a rejected 5% pay rise offer.
The union said 999 workers have been forced to use foodbanks after years of “derisory” pay increases.
Since the Tories took power in 2010, the FBU says, firefighters have endured a 12% real-terms pay cut – equivalent to around £4,000 a year on average.
It adds that in the same period around one in five firefighter jobs have been cut.
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In December Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “Nobody wants to be in this position, but after years of derisory pay increases and a pay offer that is well below inflation, firefighters’ and control staff’s living standards are in peril.
“We have firefighters using food banks – we know that because FBU officials have had to sign off on members going to them.
“Firefighters and control staff worked throughout the pandemic and firefighters took on extra duties including moving the deceased. They have now been given a below-inflation pay offer.
“It is utterly disgraceful to call people “key workers” and then treat them like this.”
Last month the FBU contrasted the pay of top fire chiefs with that of a “competent wholetime firefighter” who is paid £32,244.
General secretary Matt Wrack said: “Firefighters and control staff are facing yet another real terms pay cut while fire chiefs rake in huge salaries.
“FBU members are increasingly facing real in-work poverty, with firefighters having to rely on foodbanks and take on additional jobs to afford the basics.
“At the same time, some fire chiefs are also trying to persuade firefighters and control staff to step back from industrial action, to simply shut up about salaries that are several times smaller than their bosses’.
“It’s insulting and stinks of the hypocrisy of some chief officers who refuse to make the case for better pay for their workers.
“Chief fire officers are not worth six times more than firefighters – it was the latter who were called key workers during the pandemic delivering vital services, including moving the bodies of the deceased.
“Firefighters and control staff are being left with no other choice but to take action.”
The Home Office has drawn up plans to draft in the military if tens of thousands of 999 heroes walkout over pay.