Start of Firemens Strike Which Lasted for Two Months; Cover Was Provided by the Army With Their Out of Date Green Goddess Fire Engines.

The nationwide firefighters’ strike occurred between 1977 and early 1978, months prior to the Winter of Discontent.

The Winter of Discontent was the period between November 1978 and February 1979 in the United Kingdom characterised by widespread strikes by private, and later public, sector trade unions demanding pay rises greater than the limits Prime Minister James Callaghan and his Labour Party government had been imposing, against Trades Union Congress (TUC) opposition, to control inflation. Some of these industrial disputes caused great public inconvenience, exacerbated by the coldest winter in 16 years, in which severe storms isolated many remote areas of the country

This was also a dispute about firefighters’ pay, with the FBU demanding a 30% pay increase over a recommended 10% increase, and resulted in the armed forces being deployed to cover the striking firefighters. The strike ended after two months when FBU eventually accepted the 10% pay increase, having lost the backing of the Trades Union Congress and the support of the public.