THE Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has voted to suspend its
conference after the employers’ refusal to pay the 3.5% increase still
outstanding from last November.
An emergency statement from the executive committee
condemned the employers’ continued prevarication. The statement, which was
overwhelmingly endorsed by the conference, calls for the union to withdraw
immediately from parts of the deal already agreed and for an immediate
industrial action ballot if the government attempts to impose a settlement.
The FBU was told that negotiations over stand down time at
night would not delay any further payments of the pay deal but the employers
have reneged on this. The employers were given until noon on 11 May to clarify
whether they intended to honour the deal. After they refused, emergency
delegation meetings were held to consider what action to take.
The executive’s emergency statement called for the
conference to be immediately suspended, all the outstanding conference
business held off and delegates to go back to prepare the way for a ballot on
industrial action. This would be sanctioned by a recall conference in June.
This caused some concern amongst left-wing delegations who
welcomed the call to go back and prepare for industrial action but saw the FBU
leadership’s suspension of conference as a means of avoiding awkward issues on
the agenda, like the link with Labour and the witch-hunt inside the union.
They felt that if the conference had taken a clear stand
on issues like breaking the link with Labour, it would help to enthuse the
membership for further battles. General secretary Andy Gilchrist had to
promise that all the issues on the agenda will be discussed at the recall
conference.
