National officer Riccardo La Torre sets out what the FBU is doing to fight for firefighters via its Labour link
The FBU is affiliated to the Labour Party in England and Wales. As an affiliate, we have an opportunity to argue and campaign for policies within the democratic channels of the party. When a policy is passed at our conference or executive council, we fight to make it the policy of the next government.
Like the 11 affiliated trade unions, the FBU uses the structures of the Trade Union Liaison Organisation (TULO) to do this. Matt Wrack, our general secretary, sits on a contact group with 10 other trade union leaders and can advise and criticise Keir Starmer and the rest of the Labour leadership directly.
The FBU has a longstanding tradition of critically engaging in Labour. We forcefully make the case for resources for the fire and rescue service and public services, for firefighter pay, for green investment funds, and on other issues such as an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the right to strike.
ANTI-UNION LAWS
The minimum service levels legislation for the fire and rescue service will severely affect the ability of firefighters in England to take effective, lawful strike action, even after a majority vote for it.
The FBU has opposed these pernicious laws from the very start. We were key to ensuring that the TUC adopted a strategy which included non-compliance with the new laws, and we helped to ensure that the whole trade union movement would refuse to tell their members to cross picket lines.
It is a discussion we must be part of, even if sometimes it means forcing our way in.
Ultimately, we need these laws to be scrapped and, thanks to the work of the FBU and other Labour-affiliated unions, this should now happen. Party leader Keir Starmer has pledged that Labour will repeal both the 2023 Minimum Service Levels Act and the 2016 Trade Union Act within 100 days of taking office.
But, as we have seen before under Keir Starmer’s leadership, a pledge is not a victory. We will not rest until these laws are scrapped, and we will use our role as an affiliated union to hold Labour’s feet to the fire on this commitment.
FIREFIGHTERS’ MANIFESTO
The FBU launched the Firefighters’ Manifesto in November last year at our national rally at Westminster. Since then, members across the UK have engaged in campaigning and lobbying activity to support the manifesto.
We are using the manifesto to shape our lobbying of Labour ahead of the next election, including:
■ Fighting for central government funding to deliver jobs, fair pay and decent pensions for firefighters, control staff and other fire service employees
■ Ending fragmentation through a new statutory advisory body to develop and advise on all areas of fire and fire safety policy
■ Rebuilding resilience, including the unique role the fire and rescue service can play in tackling extreme weather events
■ The case for improved workers’ rights and the repeal of anti-union laws though the New Deal for Working People
NEW DEAL FOR WORKING PEOPLE
Trade unions including the FBU have been pivotal in getting Labour to adopt the New Deal for Working People. This is a series of measures that will improve the lot of workers in the UK. Among other things, it includes:
■ Repealing anti-union legislation, including the Trade Union Act 2016 and Minimum Service Levels Act 2023, and introducing electronic balloting
■ Defending and expanding collective bargaining
■ Sick pay, parental leave and protection from unfair dismissal from day one
■ Banning zero hour contracts, and ensuring workers get reasonable notice of any change in shifts or working time
■ Better statutory parental leave, bereavement leave, and protections for pregnant women
■ Establishing and properly funding a single enforcement body to enforce workers’ rights
■ Closing gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps.
These proposals are a direct result of unions, including the FBU, fighting for them inside Labour.
FBU general secretary Matt Wrack sat on the taskforce that established the original proposals.
At Labour’s national policy forum (NPF) in July 2023, our delegates argued against backsliding on these proposals. Our resolution at Labour Party conference on the New Deal passed unanimously in 2023.
The FBU does not think these pledges go far enough, but we recognise that they are an important start in unshackling the unions and shifting the balance of power at work towards workers.
In the coming months, the FBU will work to ensure that members are kept up to date, and we will be fighting hard for the priorities of firefighters to be included in the Labour Party’s general election manifesto.
In a few months, we will have the opportunity to kick the Tories out of power after 14 years of cuts and attacks. If that happens, the FBU will be at the forefront of fighting for Labour to deliver for firefighters.
Workers cannot rely solely on politicians to ride in and save us from attacks on our pay, conditions and rights. We have to organise ourselves in our workplace to truly harness our collective strength.
But firefighters cannot ignore the undeniable influence government has on every aspect of our working lives.
It is a discussion we must be part of, even if sometimes it means forcing our way in.
