Firefighters in south east London confronted Assetco scabs outside Old Kent Road fire station, determined to defeat the strike breakers and the London Fire Brigade backed them.
Mick Shaw, President of the FBU and Matt Wrack, General Secretary of the FBU, were on the picket lines as FBU members confronted a major police presence, including dogs brought in to defend the scabbing operation.
Mick Shaw said: ‘The overwhelming majority of firefighters have come out and formed picket lines, that includes a large number of unionised officers who are sticking by their colleagues.
‘We will get a resolution. They are not going to break us if we stick together.
‘Management have hired a press and publicity firm at a cost of £90,000 – more than it costs to keep a fire station open – to feed misinformation to the papers. they have even published individual firefighters’ details, including home addresses, so that firefighters are confronted on their door steps by press. It’s a disgrace’.
Paul Embery, Regional Officer, said: ‘We have just heard that they have not been able to get the scab trucks out at some stations. It seems some of our people have settled in at East Ham, Shoreditch and Wembley.
Matt Wrack spoke over the microphone to scabs hiding inside the station: ‘The Tory leader of the Fire Authority, Brian Coleman, is the lowest of the low. If you think you are going to have an easy time on the £500 a day you are being paid to break the strike, you will have to think again. We will be there to see you crawl back into your holes.
‘And senior firefighters who are helping you are worse than the low life from Assetco, turning their backs on their colleagues for thirty pieces of silver. You will never be forgotten or forgiven.
‘On 26th November we are all due to be sacked unless we sign new contracts that will make our conditions of service worse, and which in fact threaten the lives and livelihoods of both firefighters and Londoners.
‘So, if the matter is not resolved by the 5th of November, further lengthy strikes will occur in the run up to 26th November.
‘We are not going to back down, not even with all these police and dog handlers.’
Mick Shaw, addressing the 50-strong pickets, said: ‘The police have escalated the issue, ramped up by the Daily Mail and the Sun, to create a mood of hostility and hysteria, and obviously the police presence is part of that.
‘They are here to see the strike breakers are brought into our work place.
‘We say lift the sacking notices and we will call off all strikes and industrial action and go back to negotiations.
‘People are concerned about Assetco’s ability. They have changed the channels so we can’t hear the chaos of the streets.
‘It looks like they are concentrating their forces at nine stations around London – Hillingdon, Wandsworth, Croydon, Tottenham, Wembley, Shoreditch and Old Kent Road.
‘We are getting the other stations to go to the hubs as quickly as possible.
‘We are calling for a protest tonight at 6.00pm outside Southwark Training centre.
‘We know the police are becoming more prominent and will not go so softly softly as the last time. We will have to keep our discipline.’
Gordon Fielding, London Regional Chair, said: ‘You won’t break us.’
From the picket line at Old Kent road, David a firefighter said: ‘We are disgusted with the attack on our jobs. the fire brigades union is one of the few large unions, and they want to break us to make it easier to break the smaller groups of public servants.’
Firefighters from Scotland stood with the London firefighters and pledged full support. Jim Malone Regional Organiser for FBU Scotland, said: ‘We will support you financially, We will support you politically, but most important we will support you with industrial action.
‘You are at the pitface. Assetco is not worth a dog in the fire station and there are a few more dogs in there with them.
‘Comrades will be coming down at the end of the week on the 5th from Strathclyde and Yorkshire and many other areas.
‘If they think they can take on London firefighters and beat them they are wrong.’
Northolt FBU Rep John said: ‘It is not about shift changes, it’s about the process they are using. they are saying agree to what we say or you are sacked.
‘All we want is fair negotiations around the table.’
Richard from Northolt station said: ‘The media have been misleading the public about our struggle, saying it is about money.
‘I have got five kids I haven’t got a second job. I had to leave my youngest with his grandmother this morning so I could come down and show solidarity.I am on holiday but I feel so angry at the way we have been treated.’
Steve Humphries, Borough Secretary of Hillingdon FBU, alleged: ‘In south London there have been two fire deaths at separate incidents where pumps were taken away by the Fire Brigade managers for use by private strike breaking scabs.
‘One of our appliances has already been taken away from Hillingdon Fire station.’
Beltran, FBU rep at Hillingdon, said: ‘The management of the Fire Brigade is run by politicians who are far removed from the reality of what a fire station needs.
‘We have a battle here because they are bringing in fire engines driven by scabs.’
Striking firefighters at Bethnal Green fire station, east London were in a determined mood yesterday.
Christopher Boag, Tower Hamlets FBU Branch Secretary, said: ‘They could stop all this industrial action straight away by stopping the threat of sackings and we would get round the table for a negotiated settlement.
‘They just want to impose worse conditions on us. And if we allow it now, it will become the norm.
We’ve got to stand firm on this one. We’re not unwilling to change. This is politically led by Brian Coleman.
‘We won’t have a gun put to our heads.
‘AssetCo own the fire stations now through a PFI deal, and they are trying to tender for all training in LFB. Senior officers from LFB take up directorships in AssetCo. This is the first step towards privatising London Fire Brigade.’
At Holloway fire station, north London, FBU member Matthew Ransome said: ‘The way it should go is they should take away the threat to sack us and sit down and talk like they were doing any way. The union is not inflexible.’
FBU member Colin James added: ‘It’s disgusting that chief officer Ron Dobson declared war on his own workforce.’
At Tottenham fire station, where pickets had just heard that scab appliances were about to be brought in, Peter Campbell, FBU branch secretary, told News Line: ‘The issue for us is basically about our jobs, we have drawn a line in the sand and we are not taking it any more.’
FBU brigades officers secretary, Pan Poullius, said: ‘Basically everyone is served with terminations and not sackings to take place on the 26th of November, without guarantee of being reinstated, which will allow the fire authority to make cut backs in line with the government’s spending review.
‘If the fire authority are allowed to get away with this tactic, it will allow other public sector employers to do the same.
‘Therefore, this tactic must be opposed otherwise it will lead to a general strike.’