London firefighters have voted by an overwhelming margin for industrial action. Jim Jepps reports.
Firefighters: an essential public service
Of almost 3,000 Fire Brigades Union (FBU) members who voted over 90% called for action which will now take place from Friday 25th November. the action includes a continuous ban on over-time, including work hat would normally be claimed back in lieu.
This move came as the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, announced he was to shift £30 million of funding away from the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and funnel that into the Metropolitan Police. The FBU was quick to point out that £20 million of its funds were diverted in a similar move last year – which was described as a “one off” at the time.
Ben Sprung, the FBU London regional organiser said that “Plans are being rushed through to privatise firefighter training and the control centre before the GLA elections. The argument being that they have no money for a capital investment. Keeping them in house would be a viable option if we stopped giving money away.
“The Tory-controlled fire authority now claims it has so much money to spare it can give away another £30 million. To firefighters it looks like a cynical fix in advance of the GLA elections next year because policing is higher up the election agenda.
“With a London election next year looming, policing is again expected to be a major issue and money is being taken from our accounts to bolster the police budget. This is playing politics at the expense of the fire service which will face a huge budget squeeze after the Olympics.
“After the civil disturbances, media and public attention focused on policing and police budgets and ignored the over-stretched fire service, despite its critical role. During the disturbances arson was the principle weapon of choice against communities and only the fire service can deal with that.”
As one essential service is played off against another and our fire services see cuts in front line capacity it is understandable that the FBU voted to take industrial action. Combined with the extremely significant combined strikes on the 30th November the government led public sector cuts could well be leading to prolonged industrial unrest on a scale not seen since, well, since the last Conservative government.
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