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UPDATES
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A moment of truth in the fight against New Labour The decision of the FBU to suspend strike action in order
to try and reach a negotiated settlement through the arbitration agency
Acas, coincides with a moment of truth for firefighters, their union
and everyone else in opposition to New Labour. What seemed to firefighters a perfectly legitimate pay claim
based on research by independent consultants, has assumed a character
during just 10 days of strike action beyond anything they might have
imagined at the outset of the dispute. By putting its entire political and economic strategy on
the line, New Labour has defied the FBU and its supporters to challenge
its legitimacy as a government. The alternative is stark: accept a small
pay rise plus substantial cuts or return to work empty handed. A number of trade union leaders, include the TUC general
secretary John Monks, have recognised the significance of the conflict.
But none have so far offered any real support, even when presented with
the opportunity, as the RMT was over safety on the Underground. The
Tory/New Labour anti-union laws frightened the RMT leaders into abandoning
even a ballot on industrial action let alone going ahead with a strike. The government has at its disposal the machinery of state,
most of the media and the right-wing in the TUC. It has an evil spin machine which weaves lies by the minute. Without
the support of sympathetic unions - which without a call from the FBU
leaders for solidarity action is unlikely to materialise - the conditions
do not exist for firefighters on their own to beat New Labour. Actually defeating Blair and his government implies a number
of things that by their nature extend beyond the confines, organisation
and outlook of trade unionism even at its most militant. Andy Gilchrist, the FBU general secretary, went some way
towards acknowledging this when he rejected New Labour’s whole philosophy
and called for “Real Labour” to take its place. His political courage
brought down upon his head vitriolic attacks from the media as well
as the government because he dared to question the basis of New Labour. New Labour is a big business government that hates the trade
unions. In the one-party state that is Blair’s Britain everyone is expected
to know and then accept his or her place. If that means the destruction
of the fire service in the name of “modernisation”, then so be it. The capitalist globalisation process has turned parties like
New Labour into managing agencies of corporate interests and exposed
the parliamentary process as an undemocratic fraud. That is why every
challenge to the status quo, no matter how modest, raises the issue
of political and economic power. Firefighters rightly want their contribution to society recognised
with a living wage; they want some control over changes to their working
practices so that they are not made at the expense of either their jobs
or the communities they serve. What they want is not on offer in a country
dominated by commercial considerations and profit margins. We have to remake society for it to be something like what
firefighters and other working people want. In place of the rule of
the global corporations and financial markets, there is a need for democratic
control, ownership and decision-making. Only such a society can solve
pressing world issues in a peaceful way rather than through military
aggression, as is about to happen in Iraq. This is one way of describing what a “Real Labour” party
might have as its objectives. The FBU leaders have performed a great
service by showing how their members’ interests are inseparably linked
to wider political aspirations. That is something to build on as the
debate gathers pace on what is to replace New Labour and what kind of
society we want to live in. Movement for a Socialist Future
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