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FIREFIGHTER ATTACKS: BILL MOVES FORWARD

FBU welcomes backing for private members Bill aimed at tackling violence against emergency workers

The FBU has welcomed cross-party backing for a new law to make it an offence to obstruct or hinder emergency workers such as firefighters. The Emergency Workers Protection Bill received its second reading in the House of Commons Friday 3 March.

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A Private Members Bill from Labour MP Alan Williams, it seeks to make it a specific offence to obstruct or hinder emergency workers such as firefighters. The union and its parliamentary support group have worked closely with Mr Williams in building support for the Bill.

This Bill will close gaps in the law in relation to ambulance workers where no current offence of obstruction exists. It will also make clearer and easier to prosecute for obstructing or hindering fire crews dealing with emergencies.

The FBU recently published research showing that attacks on UK fire crews was running at 40 a week with the problem getting worse. The research, the first of its kind in the UK, found that under-reporting suggested the figure could be as high as 120 attacks a week.

In some parts of the country, fire crews are served a diet of bricks, bottles and missiles as they fight fires. In other incidents ambushes have been set for firefighters to lure them to an incident to be attacked.

The attacks include scaffolding poles being thrown through windscreens of fire engines; crews being attacked with concrete blocks, bricks and bottles; being shot at; spat at; equipment tampered with or stolen; direct physical assaults on fire crews; and equipment being urinated on.

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: “We welcome Government and cross-party support for this Bill. The number and ferocity of the attacks has been getting worse and there have been several attacks this week.

Communities put at risk

“If we can’t do our job because of violent assaults then it is our communities which are being put at risk. We are the targets, but it is our communities which are deprived of an emergency response which are the victims.

“The Bill needs to be part of a package of measures aimed at tackling some of the underlying problems. Central to this package is the need for a range of educational measures to try and stop these attacks happening.”

For the full text of the debate visit parliament UK.

For more information on the FBU’s campaign visit our campaigns page.

Parliamentary campaign for mandatory sprinklers in schools kick-starts

Labour MP Celia Barlow (Hove) has put down an Early Day Motion calling for mandatory water sprinklers in schools.

EDM 1726 – Water sprinklers in Schools – notes that “more than 2,000 schools are damaged by fire each year at an estimated cost of £100 million to local education authorities” and “calls upon the Government to broaden its recommendations to make the installation of sprinklers in all new build and major refurbishments of maintained schools mandatory.”

The move came as new figures - revealed to MPs in response to parliamentary questions - showed that some 60% of school fires are down to arson.

Around 2,000 schools burn every year, a rate that almost outpaces the number of new schools being built, and this destruction is costing £100 million annually, figures from insurers show.

Zurich Municipal has found that the number of large fires causing significant damage to schools increased by more than 55 per cent in 2004, with 90 per cent of them a result of arson attacks.

Advantages of sprinklers

The insurer believes that those large fires would not have escalated to such damaging proportions had the schools been fitted with sprinkler systems.

The Fire Sprinkler Association, for its part, has shown that sprinklers cut injuries by at least 80 per cent and property damage by 90 per cent.

Despite these shocking facts, the Government has no idea how many new schools built are fitted with automatic sprinkler systems, fire detection systems linked to the fire service, monitored intruder alarms or CCTV, Jacqui Smith from the ministry of education and skills has informed MPs.

Pass the buck

What’s more, Ms Smith said the Government is not going to take responsibility to tackle this national disaster and ensure all new schools are fitted with sprinkler systems but instead is leaving is for local politicians to address.

At an adjournment debate on fire safety last week in Westminster Hall, Celia Barlow told MPs and the fire minister Jim Fitzpatrick that there was widespread support for sprinklers to be made compulsory in all new or refurbished schools.

Responding to Ms Barlow, Mr Fitzpatrick said sprinkler systems were “no panacea” and repeated Ms Smith’s point that installing them was a local decision and that this was to be financed out of existing budgets.

FBU campaign

In October 2004, the Union joined the National Union of Teachers in demanding that the installation of sprinklers in new school buildings – and during refurbishments – be made a legal requirement and wrote to the Chairs of every Fire Authority in England and Wales, seeking their support in this campaign.

Celia Barlow is a member of the FBU Parliamentary Support Group and was fully briefed and supported by the Union ahead of the Adjournment Debate

Write to your MP asking them to sign EDM 1726 – Water sprinklers in Schools. Follow the Lobby Your MP link from the home page of the FBU website – www.fbu.org.uk

International Women’s Day – make it a public holiday!

Women across the globe celebrated International Women’s Day yesterday, Wednesday March 8.
The FBU has joined other unions, including the TGWU, in campaigning for International Women’s Day to be made a paid bank holiday for everyone.

Sign the FBU petition by going to the clicking on this link: and selecting “petitions”.

For a hard copy of the petition and more information on the campaign contact FBU Head Office.

Anti-racist anthem for St Patrick's day

In a unique project, the music industry, trade unions, campaigns and members of the Irish community in the UK have joined forces to bring an anti-racist theme to this years St Patrick's Day celebrations.
A single - Everybody's Welcome to the Hooley! by anglo-Irish ceilidh-rockers Neck – has been released on a new label borne out of Glastonbury Festival's Left Field stage.

Celebrate multi-racial society

The song is a celebration of our multi-racial society but reminds us that it was only a generation ago that the sign NO IRISH, NO BLACKS, NO DOGS could still be seen in boarding house windows.

With Liverpool's huge ex-pat Irish community Militant Entertainment are delighted to welcome Love Liverpool on board as a supporter of this project and the campaign to get Everybody's Welcome to the Hooley! into the charts for this years St Patrick's Day.

If the distributors sell 1,000 copies this week the song will hit the Top 40 and will have to be included on the main BBC and commercial radio playlists in the run up to St Patrick's Day on 17 March. This would be a fantastic result for the anti-fascist movement and great publicity in the run up to May’s local elections.

Buy a copy of the single and you can help it get in the charts. All profits will go to Love Music Hate Racism. Order it on-line from www.hmv.co.uk or buy it from any HMV shop - catalogue number MER1002CDS - it costs £2.99. Alternatively download it from www.napster.com and that will count towards the chart place. www.militantentertainment.com

Venezuela under threat

Write to your MP and ask him/her to sign Colin Burgon’s Early Day Motion 1644 calling on the UK to oppose any illegal interference in Venezuela, which suffered a US-backed coup in 2002. The EDM supports the democratic renewal in Venezuela, and recognising the importance of recent social changes. 96 MPs have signed the motion so far.

Use the quick and easy-to-use lobbying facility on the FBU website. Visit www.fbu.org.uk and follow the ‘Lobby Your MP’ link. For more info visit: www.vicuk.org

March 18 anti-war demo

A demonstration, called jointly by CND, Stop the War, and Muslim Association of Britain, is calling for “Troops Home from Iraq” and “Don’t Attack Iran.” Assemble at 12 noon at College Green near the Houses of Parliament, London.

Why not volunteer to work as a steward? For more info contact Ben Folley, CND Campaigns Officer, on 0207 700 2393 or campaigns@cnduk.org

Sign the No Trident Replacement petition, which will be handed in to Tony Blair to coincide with the 61st anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Visit: http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/notrident/