[A-List] UK labour militancy & public order

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

Ministers and TUC search for a way out

Hopes turn to Sir George Bains' inquiry as neither unions nor government
want bruising conflict

Patrick Wintour, chief political correspondent
Thursday October 24, 2002
The Guardian

Though recent rhetoric in the firefighters' dispute may have raised the
spectres of Scargillism, covert solidarity strikes, and confrontation,
behind the scenes the government and TUC are searching for a deal before the
first stoppage next Thursday. So far the prospects appear bleak.

Yesterday morning the best judgment of ministers was that the action would
probably go ahead, and with it a bitter battle for public opinion. Such a
battle will end with a clear loser: either the new Labour government, or the
new left unionism - one reason why they may both yet pull back.

Ministers have been working on Sir George Bain, the professor chairing the
independent inquiry into the fire service, to see if he can credibly produce
an interim report. The minister responsible for the fire service, Nick
Raynsford, has offered to look very sympathetically at augmenting Sir
George's eight staff to speed things up.

An interim report would, ideally, give the firefighters enough extra money
to call off the strike, and give local government employers the much needed
modernisation of working practices to claim honourably that the pay rise is
largely self-financing.

The idea floating around is an interim deal in return for short term
productivity improvements, including co-operation with other emergency
services, such as ambulance paramedics, through joint control rooms.
Firefighters, for instance, do not carry defibrillators for heart attacks -
even though they may arrive at an accident before an ambulance.

Sir George could also suggest a fresh pay structure, since it is obvious
that, in comparison with police, firefighters have limited opportunities for
promotion and higher pay. Further money would be on the table at a later
date in return for longer term changes such as revised shifts, and the
siting of fire stations outside city centres. Sir George is deeply
unimpressed by the management quality of the employers side. Fire service is
not the most glamous end of local government. He plans to recommend
reorganising the 50 fire authorities into a smaller, more coherent
arrangement, possibly based on the English regions and on Scotland and
Wales.

His difficulty, recognised by ministers, is that the Fire Brigades Union,
and its left led executive, has a history of forestalling implemention of
public inquiries into their service.

A Canadian academic and former chairman of the government's low pay
commission, Sir George understands life beyond the ivory towers having
observed and participated in the hurly burly of British industrial relations
for 20 years. He is worried that if he recommends a big pay rise the FBU
will get off the hook of modernisation, the other side of the equation.

As a result, he is refusing to succumb to ministerial pressure to report
before his planned date of mid December. "You can either have a thorough
report or you can have it swift," is his synopsis.

The other avenue pursued by ministers is the hope that the new TUC contact
group can persuade the FBU to let it be a go-between to Sir George and the
government. TUC figures, especially Brendan Barber, deputy general
secretary, were in touch with the FBU general secretary, Andy Gilchrist, on
Tuesday and yesterday to see if he could persuade his executive to cooperate
with the Bain inquiry, possibly indirectly through the group.

The best outcome from a ministerial view would be to persuade the FBU to
hold the strike pending an interim report leading to a long term pay deal.

However, the FBU is suspicious of the TUC leadership which, in turn, is
suffering from the absence of an influential right wing on the general
council.

Recently Downing Street has not been good at reading the unions, but the
ministerial view is that Mr Gilchrist is not a "headbanger" in the rail
union's Bob Crow mould. It reckons Mr Gilchrist is relatively inexperienced,
and facing pressure from more experienced colleagues, including his
president.

The FBU may have made a mistake in calling 36 days of strikes before
Christmas. Some members may find themselves short of cash at an expensive
time.

One relevant minister said: "The real dynamic is that the FBU cannot win
this strike without public support. In 1977, the FBU had strong support and
it slipped away. At the outset of this strike, opinion is split. Who knows
where it will go if lives are lost?

"If the firefighters refuse a protocol on how to deal with fires in the
event of a strike, we will come down on them. They will have no excuse."