[A-List] UK labour militancy & public order

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

'Is New Labour trying to direct a spaghetti Western or run the UK?'
Andy Gilchrist, the FBU leader, attacks the Government with rousing speech
calling for 'real' Labour
The Independent, 02 December 2002

This is an edited report of a speech by Andy Gilchrist, leader of the Fire
Brigades Union, to the Socialist Campaign Group in Manchester on Saturday.

My first comments are directed to the many members of the FBU in this room
today and indeed beyond. Eight days of a national strike. You went out
together, you stayed out together and you have gone back together. I am so
proud to be a representative of you people here today.

"As we found out, you can't predict much in this old world of ours ... I
will say this. Every single one of the representatives will do everything we
can to support the campaign that is being led and is being run and will be
won by the membership of this union.

"I was only trying to reflect this morning what the New Labour Government is
trying to do. Whether, with its hysterical rantings, it's trying to run the
country or direct some spaghetti Western.

"The cat is out of the bag. In order to protect the indefensible public pay
policy, they are quite prepared to play with people's lives. Ten thousand
fire fighters equates to the entire fire cover in Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland put together. That is what they're prepared to do to this
fire service and we will not let them. The public support has been totally
magnificent.

"We do not take it for granted but it is overwhelming and at times can
almost bring you to tears. I say this to the pollsters - take off the ear
muffs, take off the blindfolds ... and talk to some real people.

"I naturally have got special words of thanks for many in the trade union
movement. Rank-and-file members of the trade union, elected officials and,
yes, general secretaries. And I include the support we have received from
John Monks, general secretary of the TUC.

"It is a fact there are New Labour MPs who have been prepared to put their
heads over the parapet. That has been worth waiting for. I'm just so pleased
we have still got brave and principled MPs in the Labour Party.

"This party for decades has welcomed a contribution and a different approach
and voices of people who may not always agree with the leaders.

"I think we need to get back to the old way of debating democratic politics
inside the Labour Party.

"I am quite happy, quite prepared ... to work to replace New Labour with
real Labour. I have no nostalgic romanticism about Old Labour but there are
real Labour values built on real social progress, on real justice for
working-class people and indeed for fairness for all.

"It's disgraceful to say that for people in this country who are prepared to
risk their lives to save others you can't find any extra money but you can
find at least a billion to bomb innocent men, women and children in Iraq in
a futile effort to bomb them into democracy.

"I think we need to have a debate about that link [with the Labour Party]
and I think we ought to have it in the trade union movement, with or without
them, because that's how they treat people around them as well.

"Thank God there might be a time after New Labour. After 48 hours on shift
fighting fires, it is not sensible for safety reasons or in the interest of
quality of life to ask someone to do another 48 hours - and not at the
expense of somebody else's job. There is a case, I believe, for more
firefighters on duty. We will stick together as we have done this week. We
will welcome support from all quarters of this movement."

-----

Union 'turning fire strike into political battle' warns Prescott
By Ben Russell, Political Correspondent
The Independent, 02 December 2002

John Prescott made a furious attack on the leader of the Fire Brigades Union
yesterday, accusing him of trying to turn the fire dispute into an
ideological battle over the future of Labour as relations between the party
and the unions sank to a new low.

Senior trade unionists turned their ire on the Government, accusing
ministers of wrecking the chance of a settlement to the bitter dispute.

But ministers dug in for a long haul and a political dispute as they
prepared to increase calls for changes in working practices. A report on the
performance of military firefighters, to be published today by Nick
Raynsford, the Local Government minister, will show that military fire crews
exceeded government targets. The report will also give examples of how joint
control room working and changed shift patterns could improve services.

A Downing Street official said: "The FBU has given us an insight into their
working practices."

Senior FBU members will meet today to decide whether to sanction fresh
strikes early next year. Mr Raynsford has warned that the dispute could go
on for months.

The FBU is expected to confirm the next eight-day strike will start on
Wednesday, followed by a further eight-day walk-out from 16 December, until
Christmas Eve. Adam Ingram, the Armed Forces minister, warned that Christmas
leave had been cancelled for some troops in readiness for further strike
action.

The angry rhetoric surrounding the dispute increased when Mr Prescott
rounded on Andy Gilchrist, after the FBU general secretary called for a
return to "real Labour" and attacked the Government's policy over Iraq in a
speech to Manchester firefighters on Saturday.

Mr Gilchrist told the meeting that he was "quite prepared to work to replace
New Labour with what I'm prepared to call real Labour." But the Deputy Prime
Minister countered: "The Government has made clear our position that any
extra pay must be paid for by modernisation and the FBU should engage on the
modernisation agenda. Instead, Mr Gilchrist revealed a different agenda.

"The public, including many firefighters and their families, will be in no
doubt that it is not acceptable for Mr Gilchrist to try to turn an
industrial dispute into a political one. This dispute is about pay and
conditions and the kind of modern fire service the country needs. It is not
about government policy on Iraq or the future direction of the Labour Party.

"These highly politicised comments do nobody any good at this time and Mr
Gilchrist should try to focus on the real issues in hand. That is what his
members would expect him to do."

John Edmonds, the general secretary of the large GMB union, responded: "It's
a bit rich of ministers to accuse Andy Gilchrist of politicising this
dispute. Remember that it was no one less than the Prime Minister himself
who branded the FBU Scargillites. It has been clear from the beginning that
there are some people in Downing Street who want to use this crisis as a
means of undermining the trade unions."

Further trouble for the Government came when senior union leaders attacked
its rejection of a 16 per cent pay deal agreed between the FBU and local
authority negotiators 10 days ago. Senior TUC figures were said to have
reacted with exasperation and a sense of incredulity.

Bill Morris, the general secretary of the Transport and General Workers'
Union, told GMTV that a government "sabotage squad" was trying to prolong
the dispute. "It's dangerous and I think it's irresponsible because it seems
as if there's a strategy to starve the firefighters back to work and that
will not work," he said.

Nigel de Gruchy, the TUC president and former teachers' leader, attacked Mr
Prescott for vetoing the 16 per cent pay deal, which could have led to a
negotiated settlement. "The far bigger question is why the Government
wrecked the agreement that did set forward the possibility for very
constructive talks to take place," he said.

Today's 15-page report, compiled by staff at the Government's Cobra briefing
room, will show that military firefighters have exceeded their brief to
answer life-threatening and potentially life-threatening emergency calls.
Instead, all calls deemed to require a fire engine have been answered, with
joint control rooms dispatching police rather than a full fire crew to many
minor incidents.

-----

Defence chiefs look to cut numbers of army firefighters at night
Minister refuses to rule out fire service strike ban
By James Lyons, PA News
The Independent, 02 December 2002

Key reforms opposed by the Fire Brigades Union helped armed forces provide
efficient and effective cover during the recent stoppage, a Government
report said today.

Joint control rooms operated with the police worked well, the assessment of
the eight-day strike concluded.

And defence chiefs were now considering changing shift patterns to have
fewer personnel on duty overnight in future stoppages.

Both measures are central parts of the modernisation proposals demanded by
the Government and vigorously opposed by the FBU.

Nick Raynsford, the fire service Minister, today repeatedly refused to rule
out a future ban on firefighters' strikes, but said there were no current
plans to make them illegal.

The Government would be producing a White Paper next year, probably in the
spring and "we will want to look at all options", he said, adding that that
would include looking at how the fire service could be run "without the risk
of interruptions we have seen this autumn".

Pressed by reporters, the minister said: "We have no plans for a strike ban,
as I have said. The Prime Minister has repeatedly said we will keep all
options under review. We will keep all options under review.

"We have no plans at the moment, all options are under review. We will be
looking in the aftermath of this dispute towards the future of the fire
service, to put it on the best possible footing.

"There are many issues we may wish to consider as part of that and we aren't
ruling anything out at this stage."

Asked again about a strike ban he repeated: "We are ruling nothing out at
the moment but we have no plans at the moment to do so."

Mr Raynsford repeated that Attorney General Lord Goldsmith had reviewed
existing legislation to see whether the Government should seek to have the
present strikes ruled unlawful but said the law officer had to balance the
potential risk to life present at the moment with that which might occur if
the strike was inflamed and expanded.

Mr Raynsford also praised the armed forces for their work during the
eight-day dispute and said the Government would seek to learn lessons from
it such as the operation of joint control centres and shift patterns
reflecting more accurately the ebb and flow of emergency calls.

Ministers will use today's report to justify their demands for changes.
Published by John Prescott's Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, it
concludes: "Emergency cover worked well."

During the eight-day strike, 12,160 incidents were attended by the emergency
cover and the joint operational control centres fielded 30,278 calls.

A dozen people died in fire-related incidents, in line with the average
eight-day figure for November, the report said.

The emergency cover "exceeded the original remit set for it, which was to
concentrate on the protection of life", it said.

"Assisted by the police (who played a key role in posting the JOCCs,
assessing incidents and escorting fire tenders to get them to incidents
quickly), armed forces personnel and working firefighters were together able
to attend all calls allocated to them, including a very large majority where
there was no threat to life."

The report also notes: "The JOCCs proved an effective method of ensuring
that 999 calls were prioritised sensibly and that available resources were
deployed effectively."

Although there was an initial peak in hoax calls, they were now back down to
the normal level.

The number of incidents reported was "significantly and consistently higher
during the 12-hour period from noon to midnight", the report said.

The FBU argues that cutting staffing levels during that period would put
people at greater risk of dying in fires.

But the report says: "The Ministry of Defence are therefore reviewing shift
patterns to ensure that availability of emergency cover corresponds to the
pattern of fire and other risks."

The overall effect on the UK economy was "very limited", the assessment
said.

"Business and industrial life were largely unaffected.

"Main line and sub-surface rail, road and air travel networks all operated
largely as normal.

"The London Underground was able to run 97% of scheduled services, very much
in line with normal operation, although up to 22 deep stations had to be
closed.

"Cross Channel services, including the tunnel, operated as normal.

"Sporting, leisure and entertainment facilities were largely unaffected."

A total of 12 people have been prosecuted for making hoax calls during the
strike and the telephones of 168 people were disconnected.

The Fire Brigades union took issue with many of the report's findings and
pointed out that strikers left picket lines every day to deal with
emergencies.

National officer John McGhee said most people were injured or died in house
fires between 10pm and 8am, so it was imperative that staffing levels were
not cut at night.

"We have never refused to negotiate on modernisation," he said.

The stakes in the dispute were raised when FBU general secretary Andy
Gilchrist launched an angry attack on the Government during a rally in
Manchester on Saturday.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott accused Mr Gilchrist of politicising the
fire dispute by calling for New Labour to be replaced with "Real Labour" and
questioning why £1 billion had been earmarked for war in Iraq.

Union sources said they believe the Government was trying to frighten
firefighters back to work.

"These tactics will not work - if anything they are making firefighters more
determined than ever," said one source.

A member of the union's executive said: "The Government seems to want to
spin its way out of trouble.

"This had always been an industrial dispute - it is not about trying to
bring down the whole of western civilisation.

"The Government has called us criminals and greedy so they have to expect a
reaction. The Government is only making us more angry."

The union continued to maintain that the military did not cope as well as
the Government said it did during last week's strike.