By Mary Gahan BBC News Online business reporter at the CBI conference

Up to 200 striking firefighters have taken their fight for a big pay increase to the CBI's annual conference.

"We want to make sure the fat cats get the message," firefighter Bill Gibbon told BBC News Online.

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He was taking part in a demonstration outside the Manchester conference centre where members of the employers' organisation were meeting.

Firefighters had left picket lines around the city to join the protest.

'Selfish' demands

"We ain't backing off, we're going forward and we're going to win this dispute," the local union secretary Bob Founder announced through a megaphone.

"It's a long time since the trade union movement found its voice in the way we have found our voice," he said.

Firefighters' demands for a big pay increase had earlier been described as selfish by Digby Jones, the director-general of the CBI.

He said the government should "definitely, definitely tough it out," in the dispute with firefighters.

He warned that any substantial pay increase that was not linked to productivity and changes in working practices would damage the UK's economic stability.