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UK firefighters prepare to strike
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Fire Brigades Union members rally in support of demand for wage raise
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BY PATRICK O’NEILL Firefighters union members in the United Kingdom are preparing to stage a two-day national strike beginning November 13, after rejecting a pay offer proposed by a government-supported "independent" review. The strike will close fire stations from Scotland to Wales in defiance of London’s preparations to mobilize 19,000 armed forces personnel as strikebreakers. In recent weeks fire stations in several parts of London have been decked out with union banners and signs that urge motorists to "hoot if you support us." The 50,000 members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) voted in mid-October by a resounding 9-1 margin to go ahead with strike action in support of their demand for an increase in annual basic pay from £21,500 to £30,000 (£1=US$1.58.) Headed by Sir George Bain, the independent review offered an 11 percent increase over two years--much less than the 40 percent raise demanded by the firefighters--and linked it to "changes in working practices." FBU national official Andy Gilchrist called the proposal "derisory and insulting." He also expressed "regret" that strike action would proceed. The union’s national leadership had previously called off two strikes scheduled for late October and early November. Capitalist politicians added their voices to the media campaign against the unionists. John Rainsford of the Local Government Association (LGA), which runs the fire service, expressed outrage at the strike action. "We will not yield to unrealistic union wage demands, nor capitulate in the face of bully-boy tactics," he said in a statement carried November 12 by the BBC. Firefighters are "prevented" from working overtime "due to restrictive union policy," claimed the LGA boss. In fact, FBU members work a 48-hour week with no extra pay for overtime. In the same breath, Rainsford said, "The length of working shifts are not attractive to woman applicants." Prime Minister Anthony Blair described the strike as "wrong, unjustified [and] unnecessary." His Labor Party government has mobilized 19,000 troops as a strikebreaking force to try to intimidate the firefighters. The 827 aging "Green Goddess" fire trucks they will use have become hated symbols of military intervention in firefighters’ actions. The BBC described them as "synonymous with walkouts by UK’s regular firefighters--most notably" a strike in 1977, when 20,750 servicemen were mobilized.
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