Below is the text of John Prescott's speech in Parliament today (20th March) threatening (probably no idle threat) to impose a pay settlement on the UK firefighters. The firefighters the day before had overturned their executive's recommendation to accept the employers' latest offer. See 30k Fire Pay for firefighters' views on all of this - and prepare solidarity with the firefighters!
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Statement by John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister, to House of Commons
With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement about the fire dispute.
As the House has just heard military action is now underway and we are in a grave and serious situation.
Our Armed Forces are now actively engaged in the Gulf.
The continuing fire dispute means that 19,000 members of the Armed Forces are also engaged in providing emergency fire cover at home.
So, although the FBU has called off its latest strike which was due to start at 6 o'clock this evening, the threat of further strike action means that we still have to hold these troops in reserve rather than release them for other military duties.
As the House will be aware, I have always tried to keep it fully informed of developments in the fire dispute as soon as they took place. Last night I regret to say that the FBU Recalled Conference rejected the latest offer from the Employers. I will be calling in the Local Authority Employers and the Fire Brigades Union to meet me this afternoon.
I am sure that many Members of this House will be astonished that the Conference has rejected an offer of 16% by July 2004 linked to common sense changes in working practices.
That would mean every qualified firefighter would earn at least £25,000 a year.
That is a far more generous deal than most other workers in both the public and private sector have settled for. It is double what their old pay formula would have given them. More than double what other local government employees have settled for. And compares to public sector pay settlements running at about 3% a year.
As I have said before, the Employers' revised pay offer is partly financed by transitional funding from the Government. I want to make it absolutely clear that no more transitional funding will be forthcoming from the Government.
And firefighters should be in no doubt that what the Employers are offering is both generous and at the absolute limit of what they can afford.
With that in mind, the Executive Council of the FBU concluded that this deal should be accepted by its members and that the strikes should be brought to an end. That was its recommendation to the Conference.
Clearly, in the view of the FBU negotiators, this was an acceptable offer. The Employers agreed. The Government agreed.
But yesterday the Recalled Conference decided to ignore the recommendation of the Union's Executive.
Instead it rejected the deal and reverted to the original claim of 40% for firefighters and 50% for control room staff.
The Recalled Conference went on to decide that it would take further soundings in the Brigades with a recommendation to reject. It will meet again in 2 or 3 weeks time.
So the FBU will put the same deal to the same delegates at the same Conference as yesterday. No doubt with the same outcome.
But individual firefighters have not spoken directly on this dispute since they rejected a 4% pay offer in a secret ballot last September. Since then there have been months of negotiations leading to this final offer. This is a material and significantly better offer.
And individual firefighters should now have the right to express their individual views on it in a secret ballot.
For now, however, we are left in a position where:
although no new strike dates have yet been set, we have no guarantee that further strikes will not be called;
where the Union repeatedly makes clear that it can call fresh strikes at any time with just seven days notice; and
where unofficial action is putting the public at risk during a period of heightened terrorist threat.
Mr Speaker, the House will recall that on 28 January I announced that if it proved impossible to reach a satisfactory negotiated agreement I would introduce legislation to impose a pay settlement. Now that the FBU Conference has overturned its Executive, I have concluded that the time has come for legislation - particularly given the conflict in the Gulf and the heightened threat of terrorism.
I am therefore giving notice today that I will introduce and publish a new two clause Fire Services Bill tomorrow. The Bill will give me the power to impose terms and conditions within the Fire Service and direct the use of Fire Service assets and facilities.
I will start immediate discussions through the usual channels about how quickly we can make progress on this Bill.
In setting the level for a settlement I would take into account the pay rise that would have been forthcoming under the FBU's existing formula, the pay review bodies' recommendations for other key public sector workers and the Government's overall approach to public sector pay.
New terms and conditions however are only part of what is required for a modernised Fire Service.
As the House is aware, we are repealing section 19 of the 1947 Fire Services Act and are consulting on the related guidance to get the right people in the right place at the right time in order to reduce the risk of fire. I am also pressing ahead with a White Paper on a modernised Fire Service and legislation to achieve that objective.
That will ensure that we have the legal framework in place to provide a modern, safe, efficient and effective Fire Service for the public and the firefighters.
Mr Speaker, the choice for firefighters is simple:
Accepting a generous deal that has been approved by the FBU Executive; or
Continuing a dispute that has been running for 12 months, is going nowhere and will require me to act.
I believe the common sense of individual firefighters will prevail in the end.
But individual firefighters have to be given the chance to vote in a secret ballot as they did on the original 4% offer.
Mr Speaker, in the interest of public safety, 19,000 members of the Armed Forces are tied down to cover the possibility that the Union may strike again. That is unacceptable in the difficult situation we face today.
People will rightly find it hard to believe that the firefighters would go on strike while the country is engaged in military action. I do not believe for one moment that individual firefighters would want 19,000 members of the Armed Forces to be held in reserve for firefighting duties at a time when their comrades are risking their lives in the Gulf. I will be making this point very strongly when I meet the Union and Employers this afternoon.
Mr Speaker, it is now time for the voice of individual firefighters to be heard. I put my faith in the common sense and decency of firefighters to bring this dispute to an end.
We have been reasonable. The FBU have not. Whatever people's views on the war, I think the country will find it extraordinary, and unacceptable, that at a time our troops are being called into action, the FBU continue to act in an irresponsible way. I hope the House will support us in these proposals.