The unofficial industrial action by firefighters is spreading, with over half of the FBU's brigades involved by Friday morning (Nov 6th). The action was initially taken by FBU activists closest to the union's leadership, and saw some of the strongest areas of the union working normally, but there are signs that that is slowly changing.
The union leadership is angry about the decision by employers to stage the pay award - but members are more angry about the conditions which are being imposed alongside the pay increase, the so called "position paper" which has been signed by Andy Gilchrist, and accepted by the bureaucracy as the framework for the pay increase.
Matt Wrack, London regional organiser of the FBU, told The Independent on Friday that firefighters were extremely angry at the employers' decision to stage the increase. However, he said FBU members were also protesting over the decision to scrap long-service pay, introduce cuts in some pay rates and end other long-standing FBU policies.
The problem facing FBU members is that their own union is accepting the employers' agenda, and that union representatives seem to be encouraging the unofficial action only on the very limited demand of the pay rise being given in full this week. Unless FBU activists can widen the dispute to make the central issue the attacks in the position paper then they face the prospect of taking industrial action to demand the implementation of the employers' cuts agenda. Not surprisingly that is not proving universally popular, with many of the regions of the union that were strongest in the official dispute last year now not backing the unofficial action.
An FBU member in Edinburgh told Solidarity, "I think that the leadership is behind this action and it's the last chance Gilchrist has of saving his position. Unfortunately, as you will already have seen, only half the brigades have taken part. I don't think the FBU will ever be able to take legal strike action again... the leadership is living under the threat of a no strike agreement being imposed and so if we did take official action again it would be bye bye FBU and hello Fire Federation based on the Police model. I heard someone quote a wonderful statement made by Prescott when he said that they had their 'boot on the throat of the union'. That just about sums up the position. I still think that as many members as possible should be taking action just now, even if only for a few days to stoke the fire, so to speak. Unfortunately the membership in Lothian and Borders has so far refused to take part... still distrustful and unclear of the objectives of the action."
Although it's understandable, this refusal to join the action because it's aims are too limited is probably a mistake. Taking unofficial action and demanding the union rip up the whole agreement are not counterposed, and, in fact, there'd be a much better chance of forcing the EC's hand if they felt like the initiative in the unofficial action was slipping into the hands of the union's rank and file. In other words, a strategy of trying to make the unofficial action properly unofficial, whilst at the same time demanding that the union move into dispute against the entire frame of reference for the pay rise - the position paper and all it entails - is the way forward. Employers threaten that this will result in the whole deal being taken off the table and the fire service put back into the situation it was a year ago, but at least this time there'd be more widespread understanding about the dangers of leaving the FBU leadership to 'get on with things' and handle the negotiations privately.
More interestingly, the FBU negotiating team have apparently threatened to resign if the union membership force the rejection of the position paper. If they did so, it might become possible for the rank and file of the FBU to assert its own agenda on the negotiations for once.
London region, which joined the unofficial action only on Thursday evening, also issued a statement calling for a recall FBU conference to get an agreed position on the way forward. This call has also been raised elsewhere, but FBU activists lack the kind of rank-and-file body that might be able to mobilise to make a special conference happen. Likewise, votes of no confidence in the EC and in Andy Gilchrist have been threatened frequently since the collapse of the official dispute, but have so far led to nothing. Activists remain convinced that if there were a vote, Gilchrist would fail to command support amongst the membership, but the brigades are reluctant to force the issue while (a) the dispute continues to rumble on, and (b) there's no evidence of an alternative leadership available to them.
Speaking to Solidarity on Friday, one Edinburgh fire fighter argued for stepping up the wildcat action to take the initiative away from the union leaders: "The union is too constrained, inflexible and slow to take real action and would face legal action if it endorsed or coordinated wildcat action, be it work to rules or strikes.
"Wildcat action is more spontaneous to changes but lacks leadership and a coordinated agenda. The wildcat work to rule will only work if it takes the next step and threatens or carries out all out strike action, after all, the bosses will be quite happy for us to maintain emergency cover on half pay. The unpredictability of such action will force the government to remobilise the troops and green goddesses at considerable cost.... reckoned to be about £2million a day to keep them on standby.
"This is only one tactic of many which could be implemented which could change the outcome of the dispute... unfortunately the national leadership of the FBU has not carried out any kind of post mortem into what went wrong and how things could be done differently.
"The unofficial action has very little prospect of defeating the employers' agenda the way things stand. The union is completely fragmented and has alienated its members, the press, the government, the Labour Party and the public. It is because the union was perceived initially as taking on the government that the government had to take a zero tolerance approach. Industrial action is infectious and if the government had caved in to the FBU there would have been another 20 unions queueing up to do the same. They had to defeat us, no matter what the price. The government drew it's line in the sand and that was it. It was Bain or bust... The union is smashed at the moment and the members are behaving like wounded animals... lashing out without any sensible reason why. Without a complete overhaul of the union's structure and an examination of possible tactics for the future it is doomed. The union will have to spend ages repopularising itself and winning back the trust of the membership and it will be hard to do that whilst Andy Gilchrist remains in power. The punters want a scape goat."
Their best chance of getting one, though, will be to focus on defeating their employers over the proposals in the position paper and forcing the union back onto the offensive in the pay campaign. Spreading the unofficial action and establishing a nation-wide rank-and-file action committee are necessary first steps.