Tom Baldwin, South West Socialist Party
A victorious campaign led by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has defeated plans to cut firefighter jobs. The Avon Fire Authority voted last October to cut 40 jobs, 10% of frontline staff. This serious threat to safety was fought by the FBU. The February meeting of the fire authority was lobbied by FBU members and supporters, including Bristol Trades Council delegates and members of the Socialist Party.
The rally was addressed by the FBU brigade secretary for Avon, Amanda Mills. On the previous Saturday night, only 69 firefighters were on duty in the whole of Avon, protecting over 1 million people across Bristol, Bath and the surrounding area. How could a further 10% cut in firefighter numbers possibly be safe? The fire authority had tried to justify the cuts by saying there would be no closures of fire stations or loss of fire engines. Amanda pointed out that these are useless without the firefighters themselves.
FBU brigade chair, Matt Senior, said fire authority members always claimed they’d been pushed into making hard decisions, but in truth they’d taken the easy option – the real tough decision would have been to challenge the government for the funding necessary.
FBU general secretary, Matt Wrack, also castigated chief fire officers for keeping their mouths shut. The result was that 14 years of cuts have seen 12,000 firefighter jobs lost nationally, and the rolling back of safety procedures that had been fought for and won in the aftermath of firefighter deaths on the job. He sent a message to all fire authorities – that the union would fight back.
That’s exactly what Avon firefighters did – and they won! The authority voted to halt the cuts and is expected to reverse the decision altogether. The union is celebrating the victory but not letting up in the fight for the resources they need.
They’re right to keep up the struggle. Fourteen years of Tory rule may be nearing an end but with Keir Starmer promising that a New Labour government would stick to Tory spending plans, there is still no end to austerity in sight.
The Avon Fire Authority includes 20 local councillors. Labour, Tories, Lib Dems, and Greens are all represented, and only two members voted against the original proposal. Workers in all industries need strong unions to fight for our interests, but we’d be stronger if we had a working-class political party that stood with us.
