[A-List] UK labour militancy & public order

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

'There's a feeling that we're not valued at all'

On blue watch, officers are angry at the 'derisory' offer

Owen Bowcott
Tuesday November 12, 2002
The Guardian

If the Tower of London catches fire tomorrow evening the engines of
Whitechapel fire station should be the first on the scene.

But yesterday's pay offer by the Bain review made it more likely that the
army's lumbering green goddesses will be sent out instead to save the
nation's heritage.

News of the 11% rise, spread over two years, was greeted with profound
disappointment by members of blue watch at the station on the Commercial
Road in the East End of London.

The increase of 4% this year followed by 7% next year was dismissed by
firefighters variously as "unacceptable" and "derisory".

Of the 13-strong watch, only two can afford to live in the Greater London
area. Most commute in from Essex, Suffolk or Sussex. Several have second
jobs to make ends meet.

The station, whose engines were the first to arrive at St Mary's Axe Church
in the City in the aftermath of the IRA's bomb attack in the early 90s, is
responsible for the safety of several stations on the Docklands Light
Railway, several more on the underground and for the lives of hundreds of
thousands of office workers.

"I don't like the way it's been portrayed as though it's an 11% lump sum,"
said Mick Wilson, 49, the station officer in charge of blue watch. After 22
years of service he earns £29,000 a year plus £3,000 extra for London
waiting.

"This 4% has been on the table right from the start. There is nothing for
our good will in suspending the strikes so far. They have left us no option
but to walk out.

"There's a feeling we're not valued at all. We have asked our chief officer
to put a figure on how much we are worth. All he keeps saying is I think you
are worth more than we are paying you now. It would be very nice if just one
senior officer had fought our corner and had forgotten about his knighthood
and actually said yes I think you are worth it. [The 40% demanded by the
Fire Brigades' Union].

"When the spin doctors get round to it they will paint us as the bad guys
when people start dying and they say we wouldn't do the job. They should
just ask if we are really worth it.

"Yes, some people on the watch have second jobs to pay the bills. But that's
because they are on the breadline, because they need the money. There are
ministers in parliament who have second jobs too, but they're more often
directors of companies."

Jim McPartland, 37, who has been in the service for seven and a half years,
said: "Some people claim we have launched this strike hoping to exploit
sympathy for firefighters after September 11, but that's not the case at
all. As a qualified fireman you are paid just over £21,500 after four years
training. The majority of the watch is on that type of money.

"With council taxes going up and the congestion charges coming in for
London - it will cost us £5 a day if we drive in - a four per cent rise will
be swallowed up almost immediately. The cost of living is going up but our
wages are coming down.

"There was great excitement that when New Labour came in they would do this
and that but now it seems to be 'we will sort you out when we get round to
it'.

"The green goddesses are being transported around the country on privately
owned low loaders. I saw a convoy of four of them on the A12 at Ipswich
recently. If there's money for that then maybe it could be better spent
sorting out a pay deal.

"I would have thought Mr Blair and his war cabinet would be sitting down and
having a hard think about how you juggle resources now. We have heard about
certain battalions that should be ready for fire cover. If they go to Iraq
they will leave that cover drastically reduced."

"I was born and bred in London," said Scott Fitzearle, 26, who has been with
the fire brigade for four and a half years. "But there is no way I can
afford property anymore and I have had to move to Essex. There was another
firefighter in this station at one point who commuted in every week from
Weymouth."

Colin Lynch, 36, a firefighter with eight years service, said: "I'm going to
be working during the day at my second job teaching first aid when the
strike starts and on picket duty in the evening.

"I'm on my annual leave but I'm using it to teach the police authority's new
community support officers.

"They will only have three weeks training whereas the average firefighter
receives 18 weeks before he is qualified, yet they earn more than I do. How
can the government tell us that there is no money to pay us when they are
prepared to pay people more who have much less training."

-----

Why the job will never be the same again

Review warns that urgent reforms need to be introduced

Kevin Maguire
Tuesday November 12, 2002
The Guardian

Even the very name of the "fire brigade" was put up for grabs yesterday when
the head of a government-appointed review proposed the biggest shake-up in
the emergency service for more than half a century.

Sir George Bain's report listed 56 specific proposals and declared: "The
urgent message we wish to convey now is that the fire service needs reform
from top to bottom. Action on our findings should not be delayed."

The promise of "wins for everybody" made by the former chairman of the low
pay commission and his two collaborators, however, was not accepted by the
leadership of a Fire Brigades Union poised to sanction the first of four
national strikes from 6pm tomorrow.

The 11% pay offer over two years recommended by Sir George included the 4%
already rejected this year and fell well short of the 40% demanded by the
UK's 52,000 firefighters.

And that 11%, arguably only 3% higher than crews would have received over
the period with a second 4% likely next year, is tied to acceptance of
far-reaching changes in working practices.

Out would go a shift system cherished by firefighters of two days then two
nights followed by four days off.

Staffing levels at stations would be varied, reducing the number of people
rostered to work at night when fewer 999 calls are received.

Overtime, banned by the FBU unless already out on a call, would be
reintroduced with full-time staff able to earn extra pay when off duty by
turning out as retained part-timers as well as carrying on beyond 55 and
pensionable age.

Full-time and retained crews would be expected to ride in the same fire
engines, learn to use resuscitation equipment and carry out more community
work such as safety inspections.

Military-style regulations, including disciplinary appeals to ministers,
would be scrapped and the rank structure would be reformed.

Rigid national wage structures would be replaced by a more flexible
arrangement so authorities could pay more or less and a national formula to
trigger automatic annual awards would be downgraded.

The 22-page Bain report described itself as a "once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity for change" and many of its proposals will be welcomed by the
chief officers and local councillors who run fire authorities.

The document points out that only around one in 10 calls is to respond to
fires, and greater emphasis should be put on the fire brigade's role as a
rescue service, dealing with road accidents and chemical spillages for
instance, backed up by training.

The service's reliance on white males, with fewer than 1% of firefighters
black or female, was heavily criticised. New family-friendly and equality
policies were proposed.

But not all the recommendations may be welcomed by fire chiefs, particularly
a plan to allow recruits to join as officers instead of working their way up
through the ranks.

Local employers, castigated after Bain found "senior management of the fire
service has shown a collective lack of leadership", will also be required to
swallow a painful dose of the medicine if authorities are eventually merged
on regional lines.

Sir George had argued last month that he was unable to produce a report,
commissioned in September, before mid-December when the deputy prime
minister, John Prescott, asked for it in November in the hope of negotiating
a way past the strikes.

"In my experience," said Sir George last month, "you can have it quickly or
thoroughly, but not both."

He appeared to seek to have it both ways yesterday, describing the 22-page
document sent to Mr Prescott as a "position paper" with the full report
still due in December.

The FBU boycotted an inquiry it dubbed "Camelot" after ministers appointed
three knights - Sir George plus Sir Michael Lyons and Sir Tony Young - to
conduct the review.

Yet the union, by providing the "real political engagement" the Bain report
believes has been absent since the 1977-78 fire strike by demanding a 40%
rise, may instead have unintentionally opened Pandora's box.

One thing is certain, the fire brigade, whatever it may yet be called in the
future, will never be the same again.