SEVERAL thousand firefighters from all over Britain, lobbied Parliament yesterday, to give notice that they and their union would not accept a 25 per cent cut to fire services and the sacking of 7,000 fire fighters nationally.
Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union leader, said at the rally in Westminster Hall before the lobby that further industrial action by firefighters was on the agenda if the government did not back down.
Wrack said: ‘No one wants to take industrial action, but if that is the only way then so be it. It makes sense to fight together, to campaign together and to strike together.
‘We stand shoulder to shoulder with previous generations who have fought for civilised hours and pensions. The Spit and Polish strike of the 1950s, and the 1977 strikes. And we did make progress. We want to hand over decent jobs to the next generation.
‘We need to be prepared to fight. It will be no picnic. We have already seen extensive bullying. In one station members were interviewed from 3am to 6am.
‘The reports in the Sun and the Daily Mail are a disgrace, and I don’t want to see those papers in any of our fire stations.
‘We have been told there is no alternative except to turn the clock back on all the gains made by our parents and grand parents.
‘But we’ve been told “there is no alternative” for all of our history. And if we had listened there would be no unions, no NHS and no education. Working people reject no alternative. We reject this race to the bottom.
‘When the call is made we we will all stand shoulder to shoulder, and we will not be beaten.’ Wrack said.
Mick Shaw, FBU President, said ‘We are here to make sure our campaigning voice is heard by the people in Parliament and Westminster.’
Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of the PCS, said, ‘We are backing the firefighters 100 per cent. Whatever day you chose, PCS will support you on the picket lines.
‘I said at the TUC we should not stand for a single job to be cut nor a single penny to come out of public spending. We should all stand together.
‘The trade unions have to get off their knees. My father used to say that “In a fight there is no guarantee that you will win, but if you never fight at all, you lose every single time”.’
Jason Hollamby of Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue service told News Line outside Westminster Hall, ‘People will burn to death, or be trapped in vehicles, communities will be put at risk and firefighters lives will be endangered if these cuts go through.
‘In Bedfordshire we are having a reduction of 40 whole time posts and having to make £1.5 million in savings with over half the savings coming from operational front line services.
‘It’s very important we work with other public sector unions because we are not the only ones facing huge cuts.’
Simon Kenton from Essex FBU said: ‘The whole country has to come out together.
‘It’s a pity the strike in London was called off on the 5th and 6th. Chief officers across the country are looking at what’s going on in London.
‘If they get away with changing the shift to a 12-2, and sacking firefighters in London they will have no hesitation about doing it to other brigades.
‘The next strike has to go all out. The country has to back us in a general strike’.