[A-List] UK labour militancy & public order

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

Soldier happy to man the pumps
DAMIEN HENDERSON
The Herald, 25 November 2002

IN the first 48-hour strike, Corporal John Best and the five men who make up
his makeshift firefighting crew in the Territorial Army barracks on Crow
Road, Glasgow, had to make do with an ageing green goddess to combat fires.

Since the eight-day strike started on Friday, the corporal has been given an
updated "red goddess" from the reserves of Grampian Fire Brigade, but it is
still conscious that his colleagues from the 1st battalion Highlanders
regiment in Edinburgh do not provide as effective a service as regular
firefighters.

"We've got good back-up, but I think it's in everybody's minds," he said
last night. "We've done quite a bit of training and we've done further
continuation training for using the present equipment.

"I think so far we've done a good job. We've responded well to the incidents
and the equipment is much better. The canvas hoses in the green goddesses
were really heavy."

An army man with 18 years' experience, Corporal Best was on active service
in the Gulf war and has taken the current job in his stride, including the
often arduous hours.

Each day consists of a 12-hour shift, as the three teams operating the two
green goddesses and one modern fire engine are rotated once - a routine that
will be continued every day the strike continues.

He says he does not begrudge being away from his wife and two children in
Fort William. "It's part of the job."

Asked about the dispute, he said: "I hope they'll get it sorted out, but
it's down to them - it's got nothing to do with us."

-----

Blair steps in as fire crisis escalates
CATHERINE MacLEOD
The Herald, 25 November 2002

TONY Blair will go on television today in an attempt to rescue the fire
dispute from plunging into a stand-off between the unions and the
government.

As the Fire Brigades Union and the Tories disparaged the government's
handling of the strike, the prime minister brought forward his televised
monthly news conference to assure the public he did not want to give the
union "a bloody nose" but will not relent to a pay demand that would
jeopardise economic stability.

Mr Blair will say: "Today's unaffordable pay rise is tomorrow's increase in
inflation, interest rates and unemployment as surely as night follows day."

His intervention comes after Fire Brigades Union leader, Andy Gilchrist,
called for a "single, authoritative" government message.

John Prescott, the cabinet minister in charge of the dispute, had signalled
support for a deal worth up to 16% over two years. But within hours the
chancellor, Gordon Brown, dismissed that as "simply not affordable".

Mr Prescott, the deputy prime minister, later had to suggest the deal could
be spread over three years.

Downing Street insisted Mr Prescott remained in charge of the negotiations
but Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory leader, claimed Mr Blair's intervention
proved "Mr Prescott is not up to the job". In a statement which condemned
the prime minister for by-passing the Commons in favour of a televised news
conference, he said: "It is yet further evidence of the chaos and confusion
surrounding the dispute."

The FBU claimed cabinet ministers, on a media blitz to defend their refusal
to fund the pay demands, had sent out "confusing and contradictory
messages". But government sources insisted there was "a unanimous resolve"
in the cabinet to hold the line.

The comments came as the death toll since the eight-day strike began rose to
six yesterday when an elderly woman died during a blaze in a cottage in
Cornwall. One person also died in a road crash in Fife, which was attended
by striking firefighters.

Mr Brown will go on the offensive today at the Confederation of British
Industry annual conference with a pledge to resist inflationary pay demands.

Fearing that any breach of the strict pay guidelines will trigger pay
demands of up to £16bn throughout the public sector, Mr Brown will not fund
any pay demands beyond 4%. He insists any extra has to be found from reforms
agreed between the firefighters and the employers.

Mr Prescott, appealing to the unions to restart the negotiations, dangled
the prospect of an eventual 16% agreement which the union cited as evidence
of confusion around the cabinet table. He will make a statement on the
dispute in the Commons tomorrow.

As he toured picket lines in the south-east of England, Mr Gilchrist
demanded that the government "gets its act together". Claiming Mr Blair's
intervention was a sign the government was rattled, he said: "Perhaps Tony
Blair can now shed some light about what the government's strategy is.

"We are sure that no one will be able to recall any discussion about
fairness to other people when he was putting a 40% pay increase into his own
pocket less than a year ago and Gordon Brown made no comment then about any
knock-on effect to the economy."

Jack McConnell, first minister, said: "I think everybody in this dispute
needs to calm down a bit and get back to the negotiating table."

Ed Davy, the LibDem local government spokesman, said: "Employers have to
roll back their concession on reform. The public are expecting all sides to
talk so it is incumbent on employers and the FBU to start negotiating
again."

However, ministers and firefighters were united in their criticism of the
employers.

A senior member of the government said the employers were "useless", and
firefighters said: "The employers largely contributed to this mess and have
now walked away and set the union against the government."