Firefighters’ Wary Of New Deal

FIREFIGHTERS ARE being consulted on a proposed ‘deal’
recommended by their national executive (NEC), which union leaders hope will
end the dispute over last year’s pay deal.

Ken Smith

A special meeting of brigade reps and the NEC last week
were led to believe that negotiations with employers had effectively broken
down and that an escalation of the action would be put to the union’s
conference on 15 June.

Yet, FBU general secretary Andy Gilchrist informed an NEC
meeting the day after the reps’ meeting that the employers now accepted the
majority of the FBU’s proposals on night time duties. A claim which is
disputed by a significant layer of FBU activists, who are arguing for more
time to discuss the proposals.

Some on the NEC wanted to sign the deal there and then.
But, a majority decided that the deal should go out to the membership for
consultation before a final NEC decision on 2 June.

Whatever new form of words is decided, the underlying
problem remains that it is still within the framework of a bad deal that was
accepted by Gilchrist and the national leaders last year. Whilst there is
relief amongst firefighters that strike action could be avoided, the proposed
deal still leaves FBU members concerned and confused.

One brigade rep in Wales told the socialist:

"I believe this could be a recipe for continual disputes
with local management about what are essential duties. For example, a chief
officer could decide that cleaning a stand pipe at 3am was essential.

"The union would disagree and the only way it would be
resolved was by going into dispute. There’s no doubt in my mind that we will
coming back to these issues in a few months because the original deal we
signed up to was poor and this could make it worse.

"I think the majority of the NEC doesn’t have confidence
in the membership, they don’t feel they can deliver strike action. Some argue
that they won’t get the same 89% vote as last time. But that vote was
exceptional and came after a six-month campaign.

"Whilst we might not get as high level of support this
time, I’m confident with four to six weeks campaigning we would get a
respectable ‘yes’ vote for action."

Many FBU activists have correctly warned of the
deficiencies of the new proposals but they face a dilemma about how to take
any industrial action forward, when the Gilchrist leadership has demobilised
and undermined the membership’s confidence.

A firefighter from Northern Ireland told us:

"The members had their fingers burned over the
leadership’s handling of the strike last year and don’t have much confidence
that they would handle it any better now. That has produced a mood on the
ground that members would settle for action short of a strike. They think it
could be more effective."

But even if the Gilchrist leadership get their way for now
it is inevitable that there will be further battles against the employers and
within the union.

The Grassroots FBU group are calling for members to reject
the NEC recommendations and for the issues to be decided by conference rather
than the NEC. But if the NEC attempt to railroad it through, they call for NEC
members to be mandated to reject.

But, as important as these issues of democracy in the
union are, they are insufficient in themselves to overturn the Gilchrist
leadership and build action to overturn last year’s deal.

The Left in the union needs to unite and tap into the
angry mood of many firefighters – both against the employers and their own
union leadership – and put forward a coherent strategy that will inspire
firefighters to take action on pay and conditions.

This is dependent on clearly showing that the battle in
the union is not just over the lack of democracy and the lack of bottle of the
Gilchrist leadership. The Left must also show that there will be determined
and effective action that can force the New Labour employers – nationally and
locally – to retreat.