FIREFIGHTERS in their thousands rallied at Westminster Hall on Wednesday to hear union leaders call for stepping up the campaign against vicious cuts to fire services which the FBU says will endanger the lives of both firefighters and the public.
Julian Gifford, FBU Finchley, said: ‘My real beef is that the 27 machines used by Assetco to scab on the firefighters’ strike, have not been reinstated back into service even though the strike finished.
‘London is under-serviced and it has many implications for what they want to do.
‘Brian Coleman the LFEBA chair has said that we can do without these machines.
‘Me personally, I think it is very dangerous. These operational cuts mean a higher risk to the public which I serve.
‘It is to do with cuts, not modernisation and has been about cuts all the way along.
‘A general strike with all the different factions is something I would agree to.’
Mick Shaw (FBU President) said: ‘Waiting in the wings are a number of companies, like the infamous Assetco scabs, who want to privatise the rest of the service. The only organisation that is going to defend us is the FBU.
‘We are making sure our campaigning voice is heard by people in Parliament and Westminster.’
Pete Greeves, from Norfolk FBU, said: ‘In Norfolk at the moment we have lost one appliance and 32 firefighters. This is to save £1.5 million and we are being told we have to save £3.5 million. The total budget is £30 million so this is a huge cut.
‘We meet with our MPs constantly and they don’t do anything. Cameron said front-line services and the vulnerable would be protected.
‘Well, there is no one more vulnerable than someone caught in a house fire, or having to be cut out of a vehicle.
‘It’s about time the whole country stood up and said “bollocks”!
‘I’m for a general strike, and many more people are too. We have all had enough.’
Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of the civil service union PCS, said: ‘My union is backing the firefighters 100 per cent.
‘People will have to decide which side they are on and what they are prepared to do against this government.
‘If you have to strike again, whatever day you choose, PCS will support you on the picket lines.
‘We represent workers, often poorly paid, working in places like job centres through to motorways.
‘Nationally, 30,000 of our members earn the minimum wage, 100,000 work full time for less that £15,000 a year and 54 per cent earn under £20,000.
‘The average retirement pension is £4,200 a year.
‘Under the last Labour government, I am sad to say, 100,000 jobs were lost. We have had more privatisation than under Thatcher or Major. And we have had to strike more often, and in every strike the leaders of the FBU, Matt (Wrack) and Mick (Shaw) have been on the picket lines.
‘There has never been a time when we were more under threat.
‘There are 1.3 million out of work and on the dole and half a million of those are in the public sector.
We have had cuts of over 50 per cent and a further 100,000 jobs are going over the next four years.
‘We are getting less in our pension schemes and we have had a pay freeze for two years with a further two years to come.
‘The situation is out of control and the country is being laid to waste.
‘It is a disgraceful attack on the Welfare State.
‘It makes me sick to hear these Tory MPs saying the working class is work-shy, and that Merthyr Tydfil is the “Benefit Capital of Britain”, when there are no jobs, and no vacancies at all.
‘It is not the unemployed who are responsible. It is this kind of society, for not giving people a chance.
‘The attacks this government are about to make are more brutal than we have ever faced. Fifteen councils in Britain are making their entire workforce redundant by compulsion.
‘These are not just Tory- and Liberal-controlled councils; Romford Labour council is sacking 10,000.
‘We should not allow any government authority or fire service to bully people.
‘It’s not good enough to say it’s terrible. I said at the TUC, there is no case for a single job to be cut, or a single penny to be cut from public spending.
‘It is all lies and bullying. PCS research has shown that in the 1990s the debts were twice as big. The government debt is lower than in the US, Japan or Germany.
‘The Tories and Liberal Democrats will not accept these arguments. If it can’t be resolved peacefully, then we will have to stand up for ourselves and force through the changes.
‘Firefighters, council workers, teachers and civil servants have no choice but to fight industrial battles, and if we are to go on strike we must all go on strike together.
‘If 50,000 students can stand up to the government, imagine what millions of us would say.
‘They could not make these cuts. This country would cease to function.
‘Our members are paying for a crisis created by bankers. All the unions should stand together.
‘My father used to say if you are going to pick a fight then make sure you have a lot of people with you.
‘The trade unions have to get off their knees. We are proud of the work that we do.
‘We did not cause this crisis. We are not the scroungers. It is the millionaires and bankers who are the real scroungers.
‘We have to march, campaign and strike together because we deserve much better than this.’
Katy Clark, Labour MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, said: ‘We are in the fight of our lives, with 490,000 public sector workers about to lose their jobs, that will mean many others will lose theirs along with them, the shops, pubs and in the private sector which depends on public sector contracts.
‘These are the most vicious attacks on the working class that we have ever seen.
‘We have got to debate now about what we are going to do about it.
‘The Conservative MPs are ideologically motivated. Taking away gains that the working class has fought for over many generations. If we lose them now, it will be difficult to win them back.
‘If the fire service cuts go through, lives will be lost.
‘It is in all our interests that the firefighters in London and throughout the country are protected.’
‘The British people do not understand, and we must persuade them there is an alternative of investment and growth.’
Leyton Labour MP John Cryer said, ‘During the last strike John MacDonnell (Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington) and I set up the FBU support group in Parliament.
‘This is a more determined class war than under Thatcher. There are class warriors in the Tory ranks and the Liberals are worse, like Jeremy Brown. If we had to invent a person to represent the right-wing it would be him.
‘Brian Coleman is also a right-wing nasty Tory.
‘He has taken 27 fire appliances and hidden them in Ruislip.
‘He could not threaten thousands of firefighters with the sack unless he had 100 per cent support from the government.’
Cryer alleged: ‘In Leyton, people died because a pump was taken away. Coleman is messing about with the safety of firefighters and that action is wrong and perhaps illegal.
‘But the sacking of firefighters is perfectly legal.
‘It is a shame that in the last 15 years we didn’t get rid of the anti-trade union laws.
‘They are the worst in the western world.
‘But this government will bomb, it is so unpopular, and the firefighters will be the reason for it.
‘The public are on the side of the FBU, as are PCS, Unite and Unison. This government will not be in power in four or five years. We will have a society that will fundamentally return powers to the trade unions.
‘Remember Gate Gourmet who were sacked by megaphone? If the Labour government was not there to defend them, what was the government for?
‘The Labour leadership is actively trying to outdo the Tories’ cuts.’
Fire Officer Sian Griffiths, was given a standing ovation for her role during the strike.
For supporting the union she was suspended despite being lauded by the Queen the previous day.
Griffiths said: ‘We are a responsible workforce. We do what it says on the tin.
‘We may take casualties but we are not victims.
‘They might stitch me up but we are still strong. It’s not about me. It’s about us. Thank you for standing by me.’
Ian Lehair, who was run over by scabs during the strike and spent a few days in hospital said: ‘This dispute is not over by a long shot and the London membership are 100 per cent on picket lines and behind the FBU executive and their strategy.
‘We cannot accept their policies because we cannot deliver a proper fire service if we do.
‘We have to thank the region across the country because without their solidarity and financial support we could not carry on.
‘Mark Serwotka, the RMT and the National Shop Stewards are 100 per cent behind the leadership.
‘When we called off the strike on November 5th, the FBU did not back down. We called it off because we are defending the current 9/15 shift and the employers were forced to change from a 12/12 to 11/13 (hour shifts).
‘The 27 fire engines do not belong to the scab Assetco, they belong to the community and we want the engines back now.
‘One thing we will say is that there will be no going- back to a work agreement unless Sean is reinstated.’
Francis O’Grady, Deputy TUC General Secretary, said: ‘I fully support and second the motion of the last speaker.
‘Assetco is just one part of the story. The public services are losing thousands of jobs and it is profiteers like Assetco cashing in.
‘We are not going to let this government get away with it. We are going to stand up and defend public services
‘We are campaigning on several fronts.
‘First, to take the public with us. We need their support to guarantee victory.
‘Second, we will challenge government strategy to divide the public and private sector workers. For every job lost in the public sector there is at least one lost in the private sector.
‘While £7bn in bonuses were paid to the City, 7bn were made in benefit cuts. The richest 1,000 people in this country get away with £80bn a year in tax write-offs; the same amount is to be slashed from the public sector.
‘This cabinet of multi-millionaires tell us austerity is in the public interest. It is insulting our intelligence and we will not let them get away with it.
‘They have no enconomic remit to slash state funding and drive down wages, or cut the aspirations of working people.
‘It is time to fight back, build a Public Alliance against cuts, with students, NHS and unemployed, a powerful coalition to stop this government in its tracks.
‘There will be a TUC Youth Forum and National Youth Rally in March, and a national demonstration on March 26th next year.
‘We have to get ready for a long, hard fight.’
