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Don't let the FBU fight alone

New Labour has provoked the firefighters into strike action with the intention of undermining the Fire Brigades Union. The Bain review's interim report - which only offers 4% now with future increases dependent on "modernisation" - is part of this strategy.

On the eve of the Bain report, Blair said that the "government's position hasn't changed from the beginning and can't change because we have got to act responsibly across the whole picture of public sector pay" and that was "why we obviously couldn't accept the 40% wage claim".

In other words, the Blair government is putting its entire authority on the line and will use the full force of the state and its friends in the media to try and isolate and defeat firefighters. The FBU was right to boycott the Bain inquiry because it lacked any real independence.

The confrontation between the Blair government and the firefighters is the most important since New Labour came to office in 1997. There is little room for compromise: to win their justified claim, the firefighters will have to defeat a government which is prepared for a fight to the finish.

It is no accident that Blair referred to the FBU leaders as "Scargillites". New Labour sees the FBU in much the same way that Thatcher and the Tories saw the miners.

Under these conditions, it is the obligation of trade union leaders who have voiced support for the FBU to call their members into effective action alongside the firefighters. Firefighters, who are defending public services on behalf of all trade unionists, should not be expected to have to fight the government and the state on their own like the miners were forced to in 1984/5.

That is why it is inadequate for other union leaders to say individual members will be supported if they refuse to work without adequate fire safety. It puts the onus on the individual when the union itself should take a lead.

It is time for supportive unions to defy the Tory/New Labour anti-union laws and organise official solidarity action. Their members are already angered by New Labour's privatisation/low-pay economy and will respond if it is made clear that a setback for the firefighters would damage the whole trade union and working class movement. The FBU leaders should not hesitate to ask for this kind of support, which they will need if they are to win their fight.

The attitude of New Labour towards the firefighters' claim is inseparable from the Anglo-American plans for the imminent invasion and occupation of Iraq. Money set aside for the overthrow of the Iraqi government on behalf of the oil companies would pay for the firefighters' claim many times over.

But New Labour is a capitalist government whose priorities are about making the world safe for the operations of the global corporations. That is why trade unionists have to discuss as a matter of urgency the building of an alternative to Labour to represent the interests of workers and prevent the catastrophe that Bush and Blair are preparing. The Movement for a Socialist Future is campaigning for such a party. Help us make it happen.

Have a look at the firefighters action page