Brown accused the firefighters of seeking an excessive claim in a time of economic uncertainty and Sir Edward George, Governor of the Bank of England, weighed in to warn that wage inflation driven by the threat of strikes could do immense damage to the economy. with MSP included the State arson strike force unit, fire investigations, criminal enforcement, and the Fire Investigator ... safety laws and rules and for overseeing the training of fire fighters and inspectors as well as public fire education throughout the State. So grave were the implications of Labour’s threat to use the armed forces to cross picket lines that top military personnel publicly opposed such action being taken. Yet, while the Taylor Law’s penalties are a potent deterrent to strike activity , strikes still do occur. Fire departments from multiple counties were called in to fight the fire. Brigadier Robert Aitken, in charge of the army in Wales during the dispute, told the press, “If anyone is going to give me better kit than I have got at the moment, through the normal democratic process, then I will have it. But as far as Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown are concerned, reaching even a half-way decent pay settlement with the firefighters would set a dangerous precedent. The price of an average home in Britain is climbing towards £130,000. FFTC serves the training and ... 2002 through March 31, 2005. By Paul Child, FBU group chair for the Waltham Forest and Enfield stations. Steve Reeve is a retained firefighter at Long Buckby and a union representative for the retained firefighters. THE LATE summer of 2002 saw the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) getting up a full head of steam to pursue a four-point pay claim with their local government employers. We can all remember the UFT strike of 1967, the sanitation strike of 1981 and of course, the transit strike of 2005. This requires a political struggle not only against Labour, which openly represents the class enemy, but also against the bureaucratic misleaders of the trade unions who act as the government’s fifth column. With Engine Co. 85 unavailable, Engine Co. … In contrast, the official workers movement has done nothing to mobilise opposition against the government. Their pay formula is tied to that of the top 1 percent of civil servants, about 3,300 people, whose pay has shot up to as much as £200,000, supposedly in order to attract high-fliers from the private sector. Firefighters are paid less than the mean average pay in Britain (£21,500 compared with £23,607). Official spokesman and the media have loudly condemned the supposedly unreasonable nature of a demand for £30,000 per year. But Blair does enjoy one great advantage: whereas the government has proclaimed itself to be in an all-out war, the firefighters are led by a bureaucracy which has no such intention. In both cases the respective governments aimed to prove to big business that they would not back down in face of popular opposition and were prepared to “take on the militants” and “union bully boys”, as the strikers are habitually referred to. 6pm on Wednesday 13 November 2002 saw the first national firefighter strike since 1977. The latest threat to emanate from Downing Street is to send in civilian truckers with Heavy Goods Vehicle licenses to take out red engines, under police protection, for use by the army. The Guardian editorialised, “Such an increase would break the dam of pent-up demand for pay increases in the public sector and lead inevitably to catch-up claims that would exhaust the money Gordon Brown has set aside for improving the fabric of public services. International Committee of the Fourth International. Mean average earnings were £23,088 per year, but 63.5 percent of full-time employees earned less than this average. Army, Navy and RAF personnel manned their own emergency firefighting vehicles, including over 800 Green Goddesses, while picketing firefighters and control room operators watched on. The TUC had its own representative on the Bain review body—the government backed commission established with the sole purpose of undermining the firefighters’ claim. Firefighters Strike "Nothing will ever be the same" AN OFFICER at Lambeth station in south London summed up the strike's importance as he walked out on 13 November: "This step we've taken is very significant. When the last offer was made, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott refused to look at it and the government reportedly said there was no one available to consider the proposal until after the time set for the strike to begin. Thousands of part-time firefighters… Labour propaganda has also echoed Thatcher’s description of the miners as the “enemy within”, with its efforts to portray the firefighters strike as a threat to national security at a time when the country is on the eve of war with Iraq. Cabinet ministers earn upwards of £124,979, while Blair is paid £171,554. NO-STRIKE CLAUSE page 2 RIGHTS OF THE EMPLOyEE page 3 MISCELLANEOUS page 4 OTHER AGREEMENTS page 4 REPRESENTATION page 4 GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE page 4-5 ... City of Trenton and Trenton Fire Fighters Union, 1999-2002 3. The ballot result will be announced on the 18 October 2002, which means Professional Firefighters and Emergency Fire Control staff all over the United Kingdom, could begin the second ever national strike in the UK Fire Service as early as 25 October 2002. The government was politically embarrassed, but has still refused to back down. Chicago’s first, and so far only, firefighters strike had begun earlier that month, on Valentine’s Day. No, this was 2002, when the firefighters took on the government in the biggest industrial clash for more than a decade. FBU General Secretary Andy Gilchrist is held up by the media as one of a number of newly elected union leaders with supposedly Marxist leanings. The government acts not out of strength, but out of weakness. However, even Thatcher felt she could only use the army covertly to strengthen police lines. Firefighters threaten first national strike in 25 years, Northern Ireland firefighters warn of national strike, Blair warns of 'terrible damage' from firefighters' 40% pay claim, 'Constructive' talks - but fire strike still on, Strike threat rises as fire talks break up, Firefighters expected to call off eight-day strike, Hope of deal fades as both sides dig in for long war, Troops win praise for rescue after night of apprehension, Troops may be told to cross fire picket lines, Man, 86, dies in blaze half a mile from fire station, Andy Gilchrist: No return to master and servant, Police to act as Ministers quash hopes of fire deal, Gilchrist attacks government 'dishonesty', More strikes loom as peace talks collapse, Fire union chief pledges to topple New Labour, Success of troops will be used against firefighters, Night cover cuts could cost lives, says Gilchrist. Above all else, the union bureaucracy, including the FBU, is determined to do nothing that will fundamentally challenge the political authority of the government. In contrast, according to last year’s figures for average earnings, a bigger proportion of employees earned less than the average as compared with previous years. He even went so far as to issue a press release to that effect. Attorney General Lord Goldsmith was said to be keeping under review the possibility of seeking an injunction under a 1992 trade union law drafted by the Tories limiting strikes that could endanger human life. Since the Taylor Law’s enactment, several significant public sector strikes have taken place. When a group of firefighters sympathetic to the Socialist Alliance, a grouping of various left radicals, successfully placed a mealy-mouthed resolution to this year’s FBU conference calling for the “democratisation” of the union’s political fund (i.e., that some money could be donated to the Socialist Alliance), Gilchrist led the opposition. This was not the case in 1977 in the firefighters strike against Callaghan and it was not the case with the miners in 1984-85. London Underground has threatened that employees refusing to work will not be paid, leading to the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union’s threat to ballot its members for strike action next week. The police quickly followed suit, with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) stating that its members will not cross picket lines to remove red fire engines for use by the armed forces. The 2002-2003 UK firefighter dispute began when the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), voted to take strike action in an attempt to secure a better salary. The last time the army was sent across picket lines was during the 1926 General Strike. The most that could be borrowed for a mortgage on a firefighters wage is around £70,000 and, like most families, they depend on a second income to survive. Boyce then insisted, “The armed forces should not cross picket lines.”. When the firefighters determined that they would seek a living wage of £30,000, this challenged the essential thrust of economic policy of the Labour government and their Conservative predecessors—the systematic redistribution of wealth away from the working class to a narrow wealthy elite at the very top of society. The FBU has enjoyed pointing out in response to the cries of outrage from MPs at a demand for a 40 percent pay rise that their own pay has risen by a similar percentage. Fire fighters in Britain on strike interview summary, 2002 This is the summary of an interview Prol-Position made end of November 2002 with a firefighter from Belfast who is also a representative of the FBU (Fire Brigade Union). How does one account for such open divisions emerging within the highest echelons of the state? Most workers clearly welcomed the prospect of a new benchmark for pay awards. The parallels are obvious between Blair’s determination to take on the firefighters and Margaret Thatcher’s conflict with the National Union of Mineworkers that provoked the 1984-85 year-long strike. Women’s wages are approximately two-thirds those of men, so it is easy to do the maths regarding the living standards of firefighters. Fire Strike 2002 29 August 2010 6pm on Wednesday 13 November 2002 saw the first national firefighter strike since 1977. April 18 2002 Union leaders agree to press for firefighters' salary - currently £21,531 - to be increased to £30,000. Millions of pounds have been set aside by the government to join a US-led war against Iraq. But the abiding concern of this former supporter of the Socialist Workers Party has been to insist on his loyalty to the Labour Party. It was the first nationwide firefighters' strike in the UK since the 1970s. The second national strike of firefighters in the union’s history was centred, as before, around the issue of pay.. Writing in the Independent, columnist David Aaronovitch was more blunt: “Firefighters are not part of the low-pay culture. It has highlighted the growing popular disaffection with the pro-business policies pursued by Labour, which have had a devastating impact on workers’ livelihoods. The chairman of the employers negotiating team, Councillor Ted George, said that although a draft agreement had been reached with the FBU on a possible 16 percent package spaced over two years, they had not been able to identify funding sources. John Monks, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, speaks openly of the government going to “war” with the firefighters, but is himself desperate for peace at any price, even if this means an agreement much less than the original demand and tied to major attacks on working conditions. LONDON, England -- Firefighters are due to vote on strike action that threatens to disrupt Britain's transport system and paralyse much of the country. But percentages only tell part of the story. Army, Navy and RAF personnel manned their own emergency firefighting vehicles, including over 800 Green Goddesses, while picketing firefighters and control room operators watched on. At a press conference Boyce said he was “extremely concerned” by the impact on military effectiveness of having troops used for firefighting. The central lesson of the firefighters’ dispute is this: It is no longer possible for workers to defend even the most basic requirement for a living wage while remaining politically tied to the very party which is seeking to impose the will of the employers. An unnamed minister described the government’s position as “all-out war.”. 23 November 2002 It should now be clear to everyone that the eight-day strike by Britain’s firefighters has been deliberately provoked by the Labour government of … Many more workers are in the same boat—average nurse’s pay is now said to be £22,873—and many, many more are in a worse state, depending on barely sustainable levels of credit-fuelled debt to survive. In 2001 and 2002, Firefighters and the FBU argued increasingly that they were underpaid for the dangerous and demanding work they did, and the FBU began a campaign calling for Firefighters’ basic pay to be increased to £30,000 per annum – an increase of 40 per cent. November 14, 2002, Section A, Page 14 Buy Reprints. The FBU demanded a 39 percent increase in pay, which would have brought the average firefighter's wage to around £30,000. LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - A fire broke out early Sunday morning at the America’s Best Value Inn in Lansing. But it also threatened that should the eight-day strike go ahead, the armed forces could not rely on 827 ageing armed forces “Green Goddess” fire engines and might be sent across picket lines in order to use the service’s fire engines. From The Socialist newspaper, 22 November 2002. ARTICLE VII MISCELLANEOUS Employees shall be given twenty (20) calendar days' notice prior to any shift change. A quarter of a century ago Britain’s firefighters were also on strike against a Labour government in pursuit of a 30 percent pay rise to bring them up to the average wage in industry. It should now be clear to everyone that the eight-day strike by Britain’s firefighters has been deliberately provoked by the Labour government of Tony Blair. Indeed the firefighters dispute has demonstrated the precarious position of the government.
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