05.12.2002

Defend the firefighters

The excellent fighting mood displayed by the firefighters, a mood that showed signs of spreading to other sections of our class, is in danger of fizzling out. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the Fire Brigades Union leadership caved in - just two days after FBU general secretary Andy Gilchrist appeared to come out fighting at the Socialist Campaign Group's 'After New Labour' conference in Manchester. The second eight-day strike, due to begin on December 4, was called off when the chair of the Arbitration, Conciliation and Advisory Service, Rita Donaghy, approached the FBU with a proposal for "exploratory talks to look at means and mechanisms for a positive way forward". Donaghy did not claim that this "way forward" would include an increase in the derisory 11% rise - to be awarded in exchange for wholesale cuts in jobs and service provision, under the name of 'modernisation' - which Sir George Bain recommended in his interim report last month. Nor could she. The role of Acas is simply to facilitate negotiation and compromise, not come up with new solutions of its own, let alone conjure up money to finance them. Acas just provides comfy chairs and coffee. No wonder then that the decision to postpone the strike took everyone by surprise. After Blair and Brown together ensured that the deal arrived at between the FBU and the local authority employers was scuppered, it was abundantly clear that they intended to pay not a penny more than Bain prescribed. Indeed Blair was positively looking forward to his very own 'miners' strike' - a strategic battle à la Margaret Thatcher to make sure the trade unions were kept in their place. Not only would an above-inflation pay rise without 'savings' be resisted (the "outrageous" 40% without strings originally claimed had of course long been abandoned), but the firefighters were to be punished for daring to put their heads above the parapet as an example to the whole public sector. They would be hit with a package of vicious cuts and attacks on their working conditions. The final version of the Bain report may well recommend a 16% increase over four years - just about what firefighters might have expected under the formula agreed in 1977, which links their pay to private sector manual workers. But deals based on that formula are no longer on offer - Blair and Brown are now set on imposing a 20% reduction in staffing and ending even the meagre automatic rises received over the last 25 years. Astonishingly, the FBU leadership is said to have accepted "80%" of the proposed 'modernisation' changes. When the executive council met to discuss the next step on December 2, in the end only London voted against calling off this week's strike. (National chair Ruth Winters actually instructed EC members to keep the voting secret - delegates could only report to their own regional membership on how they themselves voted.) Gilchrist was convinced that he would not be able to carry the membership if the action went on for much longer. Previously an eight-day strike, or the threat of it, had brought speedy results in local disputes in Merseyside and Essex. But when the government failed to give ground after last week's walkout, the leadership "went into a panic", London regional organiser Matt Wrack told me. "They were never serious enough about the strike. I don't think they were prepared for what they were taking on." Some regional leaders had actually told their members that a 'yes' vote for action was not actually a vote for a strike - it was just a bargaining tool. Others wanted to start the industrial action with an immediate eight-day strike. In view of the fact that the membership had no recent history of militancy, London had argued for a gradual escalation, beginning with 24-hour walkouts. In the event, there was no sign of any weakening in the attitude of the government after the eight-day strike - quite the opposite in fact. Local government minister Nick Raynsford calmly told the local authorities that it "could take months" to settle the dispute and, meanwhile, troops were doing an "excellent job" in providing fire cover. The FBU correctly claimed that this amounted to "defensive firefighting", but ministers played down the extra resulting damage to property and pointed to "minimal disruption". Fire authority managers have also gone onto the offensive. This week Socialist Alliance executive member Steve Godward, a well known Midlands FBU activist, was summarily dismissed, falsely accused of inciting members to sabotage fire appliances and equipment. Comrade Godward was already suspended by the union leadership on dubious charges and this was no doubt a factor in management's decision to press ahead with their victimisation. The hoped for solidarity action from other workers had not been forthcoming. RMT tube drivers had refused to take out their trains without fire cover during the first two-day strike and London Underground management had adopted a softly-softly response, allocating other duties to 150 drivers. However, egged on by Blair, LU subsequently declared safety concerns to be "spurious" and threatened disciplinary action against those refusing to work during the second strike. Only 20 did so and were sent home. The RMT had called a strike ballot against this stand, but this was suspended on November 28, pending legal advice. However, as one RMT militant told me, even if the ballot had gone ahead, "We wouldn't have been on strike until Christmas - what use is that to the firefighters now?" Instead there should have been an "organised collective refusal to work" on safety grounds. This would also have given the rank and file more control at workplace level. The FBU leadership was at a loss. Not only had they failed to force Blair into a compromise, but he was becoming more aggressive by the day. Now a ban on future firefighting strikes was threatened. Gilchrist also seems to have been shaken by the reaction to his speech in Manchester, where he joined in the general calls for Blair, Brown and New Labour to be replaced by "real Labour". He pointed to the government's willingness to spend millions on a war against Iraq on the one hand, while on the other refusing to ensure safety at home by paying firefighters a decent wage. He was immediately accused of "politicising the dispute" - as if the establishment's bitter opposition to the firefighters' claim was not itself dictated by the clearest of political considerations. But it was enough for Gilchrist to beat a rapid retreat. The union statement declared that calling off the strike was "further proof of the non-political nature of this dispute on the part of the FBU". This was a disastrous position to take. Faced with the intransigence of Blair, there was no way the firefighters could win a purely sectional dispute. The political decision to make an example of the firefighters should bring a political response from our class. But the climbdown did not meet with universal approval from firefighters. Greater Manchester brigade secretary Bob Pounder called it a "disgrace" and, after the initial shock, rank and file militants are now considering their next move. They have not accepted defeat as inevitable - the question is, how can the membership be mobilised and solidarity won? This weekend's demonstration could have been very useful for rallying support had the strike gone ahead. Perhaps half the workforce or more would have turned out and thousands of other trade unionists, workers and left activists would undoubtedly have produced a very sizeable turnout. Last weekend TGWU general secretary Bill Morris said: "The rest of the trade union movement will not stand idly by and see the firefighters starved back into work." Other union tops, including John Monks and John Edmonds, have made similar noises. But union bureaucrats cannot be relied upon to deliver anything other than fine words. Firefighters must first of all look to their own strength, camaraderie and elements of self-management which they exercise every day as part of the watch system and extend that to the strike itself. They must take control of the dispute. Gilchrist must put any settlement to a recall conference and he is not guaranteed an easy ride. But most importantly firefighters need the solidarity of other workers. Support groups, already organised in some towns and cities, must become a reality everywhere. What started off as an offensive action for a substantial pay increase has now become, as a result of poor planning and bad - sectional - politics, a defensive struggle just to hold on to existing conditions. These conditions must not be sold - the FBU leadership must be told to stand firm. We must not let the firefighters go under. A defeat for them would be a defeat for all workers - New Labour would be emboldened to press ahead with new attacks across the whole public sector. Peter Manson National demonstration Saturday December 7, 12 noon. Assemble Cleopatra's Needle, Embankment. 1pm: march through central London to rally in Hyde Park.