An injury to one is an injury to all

If anyone doubted that New Labour wants to destroy the FBU they only have to look at what's on 'offer' from the government-controlled employers. An ‘offer’ of 4% now in exchange for 4,500 jobs and signing up to Bain is an invitation for the FBU to roll over and die.

By setting out to defeat firefighters, New Labour wants to teach other unions a lesson. The message is: don't defy us. If you do, you'll pay a heavy price. The attack on the FBU is, therefore, clearly a challenge to every trade union.

Yet the FBU is left to take on the state, the media and New Labour’s evil spin machine by itself. Financial support and sympathetic words are not enough. This is a war and the FBU is in the front line on its own while other unions sit on their hands or run scared of the anti-union laws.

In these conditions, a series of short strikes by firefighters will make litle impact. Firefighters cannot defeat the government on their own and the FBU leaders should acknowledge this. That is why they are duty bound to call publicly for solidarity strike action from other unions. FBU leaders should declare: An injury to one is an injury to all and if we fail you are next.

The FBU’s own modernisation proposals are based on improving the service to the public. These are unachievable under New Labour, which is a business government as every bit as reactionary as the Tories. For New Labour, modernisation equals cost-cutting, job losses, flexible working and privatisation.

We have no alternative but to build a movement beyond New Labour to represent the interests of working people. The growing demands for disaffiliation from Labour is a sign that a new party is long overdue. The coming Anglo-US invasion of Iraq will show millions that New Labour is the real enemy of peace and progress.

A conference to discuss the future shape and forms of political representation in Britain is planned for April 12. This will discuss how we move forward from New Labour and what kind of society will put public services first in place of profit. To sponsor the conference, or for more information, contact:

msf@socialistfuture.org.uk