HERTS FBU MEMBERS
wARN AGAINST CUTS
Members mull fire authority proposals as 8-hour strike remains
set for Saturday May 20
Hertfordshire members are warning that cuts and closures will
compromise safety all year round. The warning came as they consider
proposals from managers and councillors put to them last week
with an 8-hour strike set for Saturday 20 May.
Tony Smith FBU Hertfordshire vice-chair said: “The
cuts and closures in their so-called safety plan will mean fewer
firefighters taking longer to get to incidents. The closure
of Radlett and Bovingdon stations will clearly compromise safety
in the immediate area.
“Safety will also be compromised in those areas which
rely on Bovingdon and Radlett for rapid back up. With those
stations closed and cuts elsewhere that back up will take longer
to arrive which will affect our ability to do our jobs at emergency
incidents.
“Firefighters could be left in the impossible position
of either standing back and doing nothing until the necessary
resources arrive and risking the public, or ignoring basic safety
procedures and risking ourselves. It is not councillors or senior
managers at the emergency scene when we are faced with those
hard, real questions.
Prepared to take lawful strike action
“Local fire crews are the ones who will
face those questions. So we have a legitimate concern and strong
view and we are prepared to take lawful strike action because
of it.
“Despite what councillors and managers say our lawful
strike would only have a short-term impact
compared to the long term impact of the cuts they plan. If Whitehall
is carrying out some experiment to see what happens if there
is no military cover then that is irresponsible.
“The legal responsibility for providing emergency
cover rests with the council whether we are taking strike action
or not. It is their responsibility to have contingency plans
in place and we hope they have done their jobs as competently
as we do ours.
We will defend the Service
“We can take all the jibes the ‘here today, gone
tomorrow’ local politicians throw at us because they do
not have the long term commitment to the service that we do.
We are the professionals who understand the daily reality of
the job we do and we will defend the service we committed ourselves
to when we joined.”
The FBU Hertfordshire Brigade Committee has recommended rejection
of proposals presented by the fire authority following two days
of talks between management and the FBU last week.
An initial strike date of Monday 15 May was cancelled to allow
time for Herts fire crews to receive and consider the proposals
put to the FBU negotiating team. FBU Assistant General Secretary
Andy Dark was present at the talks in his capacity as NJC joint
secretary.
A ballot that closed May 2 produced a 8:1 vote
in favour of strike action over plans to cut emergency response
firefighter posts and close two fire stations. Almost all of
the cuts will fall in the highest risk area of the county and
on the stations which were the first to respond to the Buncefield
fire.
Control Campaign
The launches of the union’s alternative to the Government’s
regional control rooms have kicked off in the south west and south
east England. It is part of a programme which will be spread across
all of the regions hit by the plans and comes as the ODPM Select
Committee report into the project is set to be published.
The FBU alternative, contained in the “Regional Control:
National Resilience” document, utilises the existing network
of local fire controls, whilst designating a number of existing
brigade controls as “Resilience Controls (ResCons)”.
One ResCon would be designated for each of the 9 Regions in England,
plus one ResCon for Wales, one ResCon for Scotland and one ResCon
for Northern Ireland.
ResCons throughout the UK would be connected to each other to
provide a coordinated UK wide response and resilience to major
regional and national emergencies. Fire control centres within
local brigades would carry out emergency mobilisations and manage
response to incidents.
Better, simpler, cheaper
The proposals are a better, simpler and cheaper alternative to
the Government’s plans. They would be quicker to implement
and avoid the very high costs and high risks associated with the
Government’s unpopular plans.
The south west would lose seven controls in Avon, Cornwall, Devon,
Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset to be replaced
by a regional control in Taunton, Somerset. The south east would
lose eight controls in Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Surry,
Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire to be replaced
by a regional control in Fareham, Hampshire.
The union’s plans in the South West would retain existing
controls in all brigades and would turn the control at Bath into
a regional "resilience control". The solution would
improve possible responses to major emergencies such as terrorist
attacks while ensuring local 999 emergencies were handled effectively.
Paying the rent
The Union recently revealed that much of the “investment”
in the planned regional controls would actually be spent on paying
the rent. The regional controls are already being traded between
landlords with three being bought for £77 million by one
large property group.
The typical build cost of around £25 million each will be
recouped over only 20 years with a £19 million profit on
top for each one. Then the Government will have to either renew
the leases or start all over again.
The core services provided by the new FireLink radio system contract
will cost at least £350 million. Fire authorities can expect
to have to pay much more than this figure in the first 10 years
of the contract.
Lobby Your MP
Contact your MP to seek their support for the position outlined
in the Union’s document titled “Regional Control :
National Resilience”.
A suggested draft letter is available on www.controlcare.org.uk
The letter can also be sent by following the “Lobby
Your MP” link.
South Wales public to wait longer
for fire engines
South Wales Fire & Rescue Authority is proposing to axe
28 full time firefighter posts, with a further 24 firefighters
being posted away from front-line firefighting duties. The controversial
proposals were considered at a meeting of the Fire & Rescue
Authority on Monday 15th May.
The FBU in South Wales have serious concerns over the proposals,
and believe that they will increase emergency response times
to incidents throughout the South Wales area, and also affect
the ability of firefighters to actually do their job at emergency
incidents.
Not only will these proposals mean longer emergency response
times in South Wales, they will also impact on our ability to
carry out our firefighting and rescue duties at emergency incidents.
Firefighters in impossible position
Firefighters will have to wait longer for the full emergency
response to arrive. In some cases this will mean that firefighters
will be left in the impossible position of either standing back
and doing nothing until the necessary resources arrive, or ignoring
basic safety procedures.
It is worrying that the Fire & Rescue Authority expect us
to train for emergency incidents in one way, and then to propose
cuts to front-line services which mean we can’t put this
training into practice at real emergency incidents.
John Jenkins FBU Secretary for South Wales said,
“This is a real opportunity for the Fire Authority to
reduce the risk to the public in South Wales, we do welcome
some of their proposals, however we have grave concerns over
other proposals that we believe will increase the risk to the
public and to the fire-fighters who will be attending incidents.
We will be replying fully to the proposals during the consultation
period and hope the Fire Authority give serious consideration
to our concerns and comments.”
Public Services Not Private Profit
The ‘Public Services Not Private Profit’ campaign
now enjoys the support of 15 trade unions including the FBU
and over 70 MPs.
The campaign was launched in response to the increasing trend
in Government to privatise public services, including the promotion
of contestability and outsourcing, which puts at risk the accountable
and effective delivery of a wide range of public services and
a large number of jobs across the public sector.
Call for moritorium on privatisation
The campaign calls on the Government to introduce a moratorium
on privatisation and to engage in a constructive dialogue over
how government, local communities and the trade unions can work
together to provide the high quality public services this country
needs.
FBU members and officials are encouraged to write to their MP
to ask for their support for EDM 1940 ‘Public Services
Not Private Profit’. To find out who your MP is and their
contact details, click here: http://www.locata.co.uk/commons
A rally, due to be addressed by trade union leaders including
FBU General Secretary Matt Wrack, and lobby of parliament, will
take place 27 June.
Palestine – Medical Aid
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) has launched an emergency
appeal to supply life-saving drugs and medical equipment to
the Palestinian people. There is a chronic shortage of medical
supplies in the West Bank and Gaza. Several hospitals have run
out of essential drugs and equipment and the lives of seriously
ill patients are at grave risk. Some are dying. MAP has been
inundated with requests from hospitals for the most urgently
needed drugs and equipment.
Donate online at www.map-uk.org
or call 020 7226 4114
Palestine – resume EU funds
EU aid to Palestine has been suspended at enormous economic
and social cost to the already impoverished Palestinian people.
Write to your MP and ask him/her to sign Jeremy Corbyn and Brian
Iddon 's Early Day Motion 2041 calling for the Government to
work for the immediate reinstatement of aid. Visit www.fbu.org.uk,
follow the ‘Lobby
Your MP’ link.
Palestine – Demo Sat May 20
A demo calling on the EU and Israel to “Stop
Starving The Palestinians”, “Recognise Palestinian
Democracy” and to “End Israeli Occupation”
is being held on Saturday 20 May.
Assemble 12 noon, Embankment for march. Rally in Trafalgar Square.
www.tufp.org.uk
www.palestinecampaign.org
Venezuela
The campaign to defend Venezuela’s right to non-interference
from foreign powers was given a boost this week with the private
visit to the UK of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who met
with trade union leaders on Monday and addressed a public meeting
in London on Sunday.
Under Chavez, Venezuela is using its huge oil wealth for the
first time to benefit the population. Now, for the first time
in a country of over 25 million people, a functioning health
service is being built. Seventeen million people have been given
access to free healthcare for the first time in their lives.
Illiteracy has been eliminated. Fifteen million people have
been given access to food, medicines and other essential products
at affordable prices. A quarter of a million eye operations
have been financed to rescue people from blindness.
Chávez, who was democratically elected, was ousted in
a US-backed military coup in 2002 but was returned to power
after a million people took to the streets of Caracas to demand
his release.
Write to your MP asking them to sign Colin Burgon’s Early
Day Motion 1644, which calls on the UK to oppose any illegal
interference in Venezuela. Visit www.fbu.org.uk and follow the
‘Lobby Your MP’ link or click on the below link:
www.fbu.org.uk/aboutus/political/epetition.php
For more information:
www.vicuk.org
www.handsoffvenezuela.org
General Secretary statement on
election pledges
“During the election for the position
of General Secretary last year, I made two pledges regarding
my personal finances. One was to publish my expenses and the
other was to take a wage based on the earnings of the average
FBU member.
I intend to publish breakdown of my expense claims shortly,
which you will have the opportunity to scrutinize.
In relation to my salary, I have previously made a statement
through the union’s e-bulletin, which gave details of
how I intended to fulfill this pledge. I explained how a portion
of my salary would be put into a “campaign fund”,
from which I would make regular donations to labour movement
and related causes.
This statement provides a follow up to that e-bulletin and informs
members about the donations made from my campaign fund in 2005.
I established the fund in July 2005 and made a £500 transfer
for the first month. Following that, I have transferred £1000
per month into the campaign fund, as previously reported. This
means that in 2005 the fund received £5500.
The donations made are as follows:
|
DATE
|
DONATION TO |
FOR |
| 6 September |
Suffolk FBU Hardship Fund |
£500 |
| 6 September |
Campaign to defend M.S.P.s suspended from Scottish Parliament |
£500 |
| 23 September |
Gate Gourmet Hardship Fund - TGWU |
£500 |
| 26 October 2005 |
Donation for Pakistan Earthquake appeal
(Appeal from two Pakistani trade union campaigns) |
£500 |
| 6 November 2005 |
Nottinghamshire FBU Hardship Fund (Retford Branch) |
£500 |
| 29 November |
West Midlands FBU Hardship Fund |
£500 |
| 7 December |
Hands off Venezuela – funds to bring Venezuelan
trade union official to UK for speaking tour |
£500 |
Donations therefore amounted to a total of £3500
which left the fund with a balance of £2000. A further
report will be provided at the end of 2006.”
