Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced the plans on January 28, the first day of a 48-hour national strike by firefighters following eleven days of stoppages over November, December, and earlier in January. As in previous actions, the government mobilized 19,000 army, navy, and air force strike breakers to run their own fleet of fire fighting trucks. A further 24-hour action was held February 1 by the 55,000 union members.

Prescott said that the government would invoke emergency powers and ask parliament to impose a settlement dictating terms in all the issues in dispute, including pay rates and staffing levels. The outcome, say workers, would include fire station closures and relocations, new shift patterns, enforced overtime, and cuts in nighttime fire cover.

This is the first time that the Labour government has proposed legislation against a union since its election in 1997.

Government ministers have presented the firefighters’ actions as an obstacle to the drive to war on Iraq, which will involve tens of thousands of British troops. The January 30 Independent reported that Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith is considering applying for a court injunction against the strikes, arguing that a war with Iraq constitutes a "material change in circumstances."

"The government is panicking because we are starting to have an impact," Barry Abrahall at Bournbrook fire station in Birmingham told the Times. "They need to release soldiers from fire duties to train for Iraq."

"They decided to wait for war, or the brink of war, to impose this legislation," said John Bailey to Militant reporters during a visit to the FBU picket line at the Barking fire station in this city. "This could be a wedge against support for the FBU," he said, "as the public and other trade unionists see soldiers doing our job while our boys are at war."

"People don’t like wars and oppose them but when backs are up against the wall we rise to the occasion," he said.  
 
Not just about wages
"This isn’t just a fight for wages," Malcolm Lee said to the Militant at the Barking picket. "We’re fighting for jobs and a service to the public."

After beginning with a wage raise demand of 40 percent, the union is prepared to consider a 16 percent offer as long as it is not tied to cutbacks. The government insists on a 4 percent ceiling, allowable only if the union agrees to "modernization" measures.

In early January the LGA laid out proposals which the FBU estimates would ax 4,500 jobs and close 150 fire stations.

"We’ve got a lot of support," Lee said as drivers in passing vehicles tooted and waved in support. "I think it’s because they face the same problems and they’re fed up with the government too. We should carry on our action."

"If we give into them now they can do what they want with us and it will be hard to stand up to them," agreed Brad Harrop.

John Bailey emphasized that "the government has been pushing these cuts since the 1990s and now they hope to do it in one fell swoop on the back of the war."

The Times declared editorial support for Prescott’s measures on January 29. The FBU should be given one last chance, the big-business daily said, to abandon their strikes and present proposals of their own for cutbacks. "If not, the Deputy Prime Minister should enforce the proposed law as soon as possible."

The new powers could be used for future disputes and "would set a precedent for the outcome of similar long running disputes in the public sector," read a news article on the same day.

Following Prescott’s announcement, a delegation from the Trade Union Congress (TUC), the national union federation, met separately with FBU leaders and the deputy prime minister in an effort to resume talks at the beginning of February.

The FBU executive has announced that they will meet February 3 to decide their next steps. LGA representatives have said that they will only resume negotiations if no further strikes are called. FBU general secretary Andy Gilchrist responded, "As long as firefighters are treated with contempt there will be strikes and more strikes."  
 
 
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