[A-List] UK labour militancy & public order

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

Continuing our series on the unfolding dispute involving firefighters
and New Labour...


Fire union calls for member of pay review to quit

FBU claims Sir Tony Young confided £30,000 demand would fail

Kevin Maguire
Thursday October 3, 2002
The Guardian

Firefighters' leaders last night called for the resignation of a member
of a Whitehall pay review team after claiming he had privately admitted
the three man inquiry would reject the union's pay claim for £30,000 a
year.

The Fire Brigades Union demanded the head of Sir Tony Young, a former
TUC president, when it took the unusual step of publishing a note of a
conversation at a drinks reception in Blackpool this week during the
Labour party conference.

The union account showed Sir Tony, who has close Downing Street
contacts, pre-judging the findings of the three man body, which has been
boycotted by the union. It is still taking evidence and is scheduled to
report in December.

According to the union version of the discussion, Sir Tony told the FBU
general secretary, Andy Gilchrist, and national officer Geoff Ellis:
"The review team is not going to deliver what you want and the FBU will
have to accept that."

According to the FBU, the former deputy general secretary of the
Communication Workers Union also confessed he was ignorant about the
industry. "I know absolutely nothing about the fire service. I have
never even called them out," he was reported to have said.

The review was set up by the government after the FBU, claiming 40%,
rejected a 4% offer and embarked on a national strike ballot expected to
end with troops in green goddesses answering emergency calls from the
end of October.

Sir Tony, angry that the union had made public comments intended to be
private, said yesterday that "I don't believe anybody imagines" the 40%
claim would be accepted but denied pre-empting its conclusions,
insisting the FBU version of the encounter was incorrect.

"If Andy wishes to have another word with me I won't rule it out. I hope
he won't have his press officer there to slightly distort my
statements," he said, rejecting the resignation request.

The retired union leader said: "It is true, I am not an expert on the
fire service, but I like to think that after quite a few years in the
trade union movement I know a lot about industrial relations. My job
will be to ensure we have the widest possible range [of views] so we are
able to assess the situation effectively."

The FBU's decision to release the text underlined the hardening of
battlelines, with the union preparing to name strike dates on October 18
when the ballot result is expected to produce a majority of Britain's
52,000 crew members in favour of walkouts.

Mr Gilchrist and Mr Ellis met Sir Tony at the Guardian reception in
Blackpool's Imperial Hotel, with Mr Ellis leaving the room to write down
the comments.

The FBU has dubbed the review "Camelot" because all three members - Sir
Tony, Sir Michael Lyons, former Birmingham council chief executive, and
Sir George Bain, former chairman of the low pay commission and head of
the review - are knights. Sir George and Sir Tony have been honoured
under Labour.

Mr Gilchrist said: "Tony Young confirmed what we have been saying all
along - that this review is not independent, it is a farce. How can we
be expected to enter into a review when clearly the review team has
already decided the outcome?"

The leftwing heads of other unions also want Sir Tony to withdraw to
undermine the body's credibility . His insistence that he was appointed
as an individual was contradicted by the TUC which said it had been
consulted by the government before he was selected. "It's better for
there to be a trade union voice on the inquiry than not. The FBU has not
communicated to the TUC any objection to Tony Young's participation," a
TUC spokesman said.