Unite members in the Gibraltar Fire & Rescue Service will protest again at No.6 today in reaction to public statements issued by the Government in response to the dispute. Further demonstrations are planned for Friday 20^th and Thursday 26^th March.

A statement from Unite follows below:

Unite the Union has today (11^th March) confirmed that Unite members in the Gibraltar Fire & Rescue Service will protest again at No.6 on Thursday 12^th March which follows misleading public statements issued by HMGOG in response to the dispute. Further demonstrations are planned for Friday 20^th and Thursday 26^th March.

After issuing a press release that published the salaries within GFRS with no context or explanation, which Unite have not been able to reconcile, further statements were issued doubling down on the comparison with UK firefighter salaries, raising concerns with the Continued Professional Development (CPD) allowance and claiming that costs associated with supporting the GFRS claim would run into tens of millions of pounds. No rationale has been proffered to accompany these claims.

The following points in this dispute are clear in advance of the second demonstration outside of No.6:-

• The cost of the claim amounts to £1.39 per hour on a firefighter’s hourly rate of pay or £803 per day for the whole of GFRS
• When publishing salaries of GFRS these have not offered the context of a 42 hour contractual week, 14 hours weekly conditioned overtime and then additional overtime to cover workplaces absences including training, this is not voluntary overtime, but must be fulfilled either contractually or to maintain minimum operationalcoverage for the service
• If a worker contracted to work 37 hours per week on £40,000 per annum consistently worked 56 hours per week, therefore 19 hours overtime, they would earn over £70,000 per annum and that would be before accounting for any unsocial hours payments or allowances if applicable  
• The basic salary of a GFRS firefighter is £40,656 whereas the basic salary of a UK firefighter is £42,474
• A number of UK Fire Authorities pay several additional allowances, including a nightshift allowance, in addition to the “all-inclusive firefighter salary”
• The Continued Professional Development allowance was negotiated and agreed between Unite & HMGOG, the union should not have to defend an agreement reached with Government. The CPD allowance reflects the on-going professional responsibilities and training requirements of GFRS personnel

Stuart Davies, National Officer for Unite Gibraltar stated “Trading press statements with HMGOG and demonstrating outside of No.6 is not where Unite and our members want to be, our preference is to be sat at the negotiating table seeking to resolve this dispute, but instead we frustratingly have public statements which are misleading at best, whilst offering no context or explanations. At least when the Principal Auditor publishes a critique of salaries all the detail is provided instead of headline figures that offer no breakdown or calculation.

“The lack of engagement on the issues have left our members with no other option than to once again demonstrate outside of No.6, their resolve and Unite’s support in their claim is unwavering.

“In an earlier press release dated 2^nd March 2026 HMGOG stated that “Government remains committed to constructive engagement” and the union calls upon HMGOG to trigger that process of positive dialogue as to dispute resolution, in the meantime Unite members in GFRS will continue to ensure that the safety of the community is maintained and remains of paramount importance”.