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FBU finds itself in Prescott's trap

By all accounts, the talks between the Fire Brigades Union and the employers are getting nowhere. The employers, with the full backing of the government, still insist that any pay rises are linked to far-reaching changes that will undermine existing working conditions. This includes the abolition of the current shift system as a preparation for reducing fire cover. In addition, the employers want senior management to decide the level of fire cover at a local level.

The FBU leaders were lured back into talks by John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, after another round of highly successful strike action. This demonstrated that firefighters were determined to fight New Labour to the bitter end to defend what they had, let alone win a pay rise.

What the latest talks have revealed is that the FBU leaders walked into a trap set for them by a reactionary government that wanted to take the strikes off the agenda for cynical reasons. Prescott's main interest was to redeploy the troops involved in strike breaking to take part in the planned invasion of Iraq rather than allow room for a compromise pay deal.

All the talk of "negotiations without preconditions", which FBU leaders seized upon to abandon further strikes, has turned out to be just that - talk. The employers have come to the negotiations with the same agenda they have always had - pay rises in exchange for "modernisation" based on the Bain report's proposals. This is the report drawn up under government supervision that, if implemented, would destroy the fire service as well as severely weakening the FBU.

The FBU leadership has arrived at this position because it refuses to accept the political reality that New Labour is not interested in a compromise. It is intent on breaking the influence of the FBU and reorganising the fire service along the lines of business effciiency models. This is the intention throughout the public sector and defeat of the FBU would be a significant step along this road.

FBU executive members are desperate to ignore these conclusions and that is why their leadership during the strike has wavered from week to week. They don't want to acknowledge that New Labour is a capitalist government, whose policies are shaped primarily by corporate interests.

So instead of engaging in the struggle with confidence, calling on other unions to take solidarity action, and rejecting Prescott's plans to impose a settlement over the union's head, the FBU leadership is proving indecisive. This can only encourage the government and the employers.

While the FBU has searched for a non-existent compromise, the movement against the government over an attack on Iraq has grown to historic proportions. This massive rejection of New Labour's warmongering inspired both rail unions, the National Union of Journalists and college lecturers to demand that the TUC Congress is recalled to plan strikes against an invasion of Iraq.

This mass movement is an expression of the deep frustration felt by firefighters and others in society with both the political system and New Labour. Millions now go unrepresented by any traditional political party. Their right to vote, which previous generations fought and died for, is undermined as a result.

Progress is now impossible without a fundamental challenge to New Labour and the corporate interests they represent. That is what the FBU leaders should acknowledge at the union's recalled delegate conference on March 17, which may well coincide with an attack on Iraq. They should set in motion plans to disaffiliate from New Labour and relaunch their pay struggle.

The time has come to go beyond New Labour and build a new political movement that represents the views and aspirations of the majority. If you support this idea, sign up for the Voices for the Future conference on April 12 and start this process rolling.

Movement for a Socialist Future
Feburary 26, 2003