[A-List] UK labour militancy & public order

["Keaney Michael" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

Firefighters back ballot on strikes
By Barrie Clement Labour Editor
The Independent, 13 September 2002

Firefighters' representatives voted unanimously yesterday to ballot on
industrial action, bringing closer the prospect of national strikes that
could last for eight days.

Leaders of the union expressed confidence that there would be an
overwhelming "yes'' vote and predicted that stoppages - the first
national walkouts in 25 years - could start at the end of next month.

In the absence of an improvement in a 4 per cent pay offer, an emergency
session of the union's executive will discuss tactics on Tuesday. Senior
union officials said they would hit employers "fast and hard''.

Andy Gilchrist, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said
action would be "discontinuous'' but would "reflect the confidence and
sense of purpose you saw here today".

Delegates, at a special conference in a Manchester hotel, voted by
51,849 votes to 0 to take action and none of the 20 speakers argued
against the strategy.

One senior FBU source said that firefighters would concentrate on
"maximum pressure in the shortest possible time" to force management
back to the negotiating table.

The 242-strong conference began with a minute's silence for the New York
firefighters who died on 11 September last year and continued with
expressions of dismay that firefighters in Britain were expected to risk
their lives for £21,500 a year.

Mr Gilchrist said that by submitting a claim for a 40 per cent pay
increase, putting his members on a minimum of £30,000, the union was
not "calling for the moon but for justice".