THERE has been an unreal, if not surreal, air to the firefighters’ dispute since the beginning.

Firstly, we are told it is not really an industrial dispute, just a pay claim that is yet to be resolved.

So when the airport was closed down in February it was the result of poor staffing levels, not calculated industrial action.

Next we learn that the men don’t really want extra money, they just want more time they can call their own to spend with their families. But it’s not more men (or women) that they are demanding, but money in compensation.

Now we are told that an agreement to go to binding arbitration if a deal was not struck within a three-month breather period was no such thing. It was not signed by the union leader, so was invalid.

But it was, it seems, signed by representatives of the men themselves. And they have accepted the £24,000 which came as one part of that deal.

Which begs the question: who is running this non-dispute?

Having refused to accept the full consequences of the deal, the firefighters now ask that the States negotiating body return to the table for further talks. Meanwhile, dangling above the heads of those at the table would be the knowledge that once one or two men go sick the whole airport will grind to a standstill.

But most puzzling of all is the firefighters’ refusal to go to binding arbitration. Having condemned the stubbornness of the PSRC, they would still rather hammer out the same tired arguments with them and wait for one side to get weary.

If their case is that strong would it not be in their interests – and those of everyone else in the island – to get this over with?

Go into binding arbitration, take your best case, show up the PSRC – if you can – for the unreasonable stance it has taken and emerge victorious into the sunlight.

Unless, of course, the firefighters’ case is weak. Unless their only hope of getting what they want is to bully and cajole the island with their only weapon: closing the airport.