Contribution increase

15 September 2020

Dear Brother/Sister

CONTRIBUTION INCREASE 2020

Thank you for your continued support of the Fire Brigades Union.  Your membership is vital as we continue to support and work on behalf of all FBU members. 

In just a single 12-month period, your membership helped us to win over £5.5 million in damages for injured members and their families. In the same period, we successfully concluded 170 cases for injured members and supported 85 members in legal disputes over unfair treatment at work, securing around £120,000 in compensation.

The national crisis created by the Covid-19 pandemic has seen the FBU lead the way to ensure that firefighters could support and protect their communities. As the scale of the crisis became apparent, we brought together different groups from across the Fire & Rescue Service to achieve a number of ground-breaking national agreements. These national agreements gave firefighters the opportunity to enter into new areas of urgent work with the peace of mind that the necessary contractual protections and safety measures had been achieved.

The FBU, and only the FBU, has provided the strong collective voice for firefighters and firefighters control throughout the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. We have identified and championed vital safety issues for the entire workforce, demanding urgent testing for frontline firefighters who may be exposed to the virus, and fought hard for individual members whose personal circumstances left them more exposed than their colleagues.

Our local representatives have held management to account and prevented the introduction of unsafe and badly thought out policies. We have achieved home working on full pay for members at special risk from the virus and protected members with special family circumstances from inconsiderate management practices.

On an individual level, and despite the restrictions of the crisis, we have continued to deliver UK wide training to provide you with qualified FBU representatives to support you through a wide variety of local workplace situations. Our national work on firefighter safety also continued apace with ground-breaking work on the impacts of exposure to fireground contaminants and protection against occupational cancers.  

We have continued to fight for meaningful change following the Grenfell Tower disaster in our role as a ‘core participant’ in Phase 2 of the Inquiry. We continue to be the only voice at the National Joint Council fighting to protect conditions of service for all members in the Fire & Rescue Service and demanding fair pay for firefighters and control.

And let’s not forget that your union was the only body in the Fire Service to take up the fight for pension justice, winning a huge victory against the government in the Courts. We continue to pursue pension justice as the impact of this challenge rolls out. 

As of the 1 October 2020, membership contributions will be increased by 2% in line with the pay award and payments will be adjusted accordingly. Although the pay award took effect in July, we have delayed the increase in membership subscriptions in order to assist members in the subsequent period.

Thank you for your membership of the Fire Brigades Union. Your loyalty and unity mean that the union can effectively support and protect members across the wide spectrum of issues that we face in today’s Fire & Rescue Service. 

Please keep your membership details up to date by logging on to www.fbu.org.uk/membership-system-log. This will help us to improve our communication with you.

You will also find details of member benefits on the membership page of our website.

If you have any questions, please contact your Brigade or Regional officials whose contact details can also be found on the union website. www.fbu.org.uk.

Best wishes.

Yours fraternally

Matt Wrack
General Secretary