05.12.2002

The fire last time

Chris Jones, former chair of Merseyside Fire Brigades Union and a leading figure in Merseyside Socialist Alliance, looks back 25 years to the last national firefighters' strike

There are, I believe, four key lessons to be learnt from the last time firefighters were up against a Labour government. 1. Rank and file must organise In 1977 there was strong enough rank and file organisational capacity to bring the workers out, in the face of the opposition of most of the officials. For example, a leading official in Merseyside was Terry Fields - later a Labour MP who was known as a supporter of the Militant Tendency (today's Socialist Party). In many other ways, comrades like Terry Fields were completely admirable, but on this occasion he tried to enforce the official line and the rank and file went round him and others like him. In June 1977, such left officials either completely misread the situation of felt obliged to stick with the machine. So this was a rank and file action not only against the national executive, but against the left officials' advice. Terry Parry - the FBU general secretary at the time - was adamant that the fire brigade would not go on strike. Not only was the strike won against them, but, once it was underway, it did not get the support of the TUC. So the attitude of the FBU executive and the TUC was strikingly different to today. This time around, the EC led the campaign on pay, the strike obviously had the backing of the leadership and the TUC gave full support. These features - plus the diminished organisational capacity of the rank and file - are the main differences between now and then. Today, there is nothing like the same level of independent organisation among the firefighters and this certainly has its dangers. 2. Fight as a class As 1977 demonstrated, firefighters do not have the industrial muscle to win on their own. If you are in a full-frontal confrontation with the government, then you have to treat it as a class battle, not a sectional one. Today, we are clearly in a straight fight with this government. We simply cannot win alone. We have to look to action by other sections of the class - both in solidarity with us and for their own claims. But - just like in 1977 - do not expect the TUC to act, despite its verbal support for us this time around. (In fact if it does act, we have to be very wary of it. It will present itself as some sort of 'go-between', to sell us a rotten deal. That is why independent rank and file organisation is so important.) Perhaps we can expect active support from the new 'awkward squad' of left leaders in the trade union movement. This would not be altruism. It is crystal clear that the government has picked this dispute to teach a lesson to that new layer of left leaders in unions like the PCSU, RMT and Amicus. They calculate that they can drive the lesson home with the firefighters - 'You can't beat the government!' If we stand together, we can prove them wrong. 3. Take a lead from the firefighters The strike in 1977 concluded in what people - including myself - have described as the best defeat anyone ever had. I voted against the return to work - it was about two to one to go back. The agreement stuck to the government's limit of 10%, but on the back of that we also got the pay formula and the 42-hour week. So, in one sense, it was a clear defeat, in that we did not break the pay policy. On the other hand, we won the conditions that served the firefighters well for a number of years after. The immediate effect of this 'qualified defeat' was that low paid workers took encouragement from the settlement. My feeling is that the current dispute - like that of 1977 - has opened up arguments on pay that will spread well beyond the ranks of firefighters. This is true whatever happens with our fight - it opens the door for others. Low paid workers have seen a trade union stand up and demand amounts of money that many people on or around the minimum wage will find incredible. As in 1977, I believe that we are likely to see an escalation of other disputes as a consequence of the stand the FBU has taken. Despite the fact that it was perceived of by many as a defeat, the strike of 1977 was followed by the winter of discontent. 4. Labour is not our party In both disputes, the common factor is the Labour Party. In 1976, the Labour government had done its U-turn and set about imposing monetarism at the behest of the International Monetary Fund. By 1977, firefighters' pay had diminished dramatically in real terms. Many firefighters with families were forced to claim state benefits to bring their income up to something they could survive on. The Labour government was determined to stick with their wages policy. The strikes were over breaking that restriction. In that sense, it is very similar to today. Blair might have an informal wages policy in the public sector, linking wage claims to productivity deals, but in substance it is very similar to the approach of the 1977 Labour government under Callaghan. The broader question of the relationship with Labour has been opened up in a way that did not happen in 1977. Back then, the immediate effect in many places was to strengthen the union relationship with Labour. Shortly after the dispute, Militant - then a faction inside the Labour Party - was having meetings for firefighters on Merseyside with up to 30 people in attendance. Beyond that, there was a sense that the job of the FBU was to generate a left strong enough to 'retake' Labour back from the right wing. It fed into the general movement around Tony Benn slightly later in the 1980s. It is less clear that today's dispute will have the same effect. True, the Labour left will revive - this seems to be happening to a certain extent around the Socialist Campaign Group. But the immediate effect is likely to be a falling away from Labour, with firefighters pushing to break the link with Blair's party. This is a big difference in the political response in the two disputes and poses the key question - what sort of workers' party do we need?