Newly elected FBU general secretary Steve Wright introduces the first edition of Firefighter magazine under his leadership
It’s a new era for the Fire Brigades Union. I joined the fire service in 2001, and I’ve represented members at every level of our union.
It is an honour to have been elected as your general secretary, and regardless of how you voted I will fight for you every day. I would also like to pay tribute to Matt Wrack, my predecessor, who served the FBU with dedication for 20 years.
During the campaign, and while in post, I have travelled the length and breadth of the UK talking to firefighters and fire control staff. The message they sent me was clear: it’s time to unite and to deliver: on investment, public safety and health, safety and wellbeing.
Wildfires
The cover story of this magazine – Southern California’s disastrous wildfires – gives an important angle on one of my key early priorities: investment. The inferno that swept through LA and the area around it (see page 8) is a sobering reminder of how quickly our planet is changing.
To meet the challenge of the climate crisis, the fire service will need a major boost to funding. But since 2010, we have lost one in five firefighter jobs. Sadly, the current government’s first local government funding settlement (see page 4) amounts to another real-terms cut to the fire service.
We urge them to think again – and we urge FBU members to make their voices heard at local council and fire authority meetings in the coming weeks.
Mental Health
With our DECON campaign, the FBU has already shown that we can change the conversation in our sector when it comes to health, safety and wellbeing.
Now, we are looking to do the same for mental health – and all FBU members have a part to play. To start our campaign on mental health, we need to create a body of evidence which we can use to inform policy and shift the discussion.
In order to do this, ten thousand FBU members will need to participate in a survey conducted by academics at the University of Central Lancashire. Please complete the survey as soon as possible.
Injury to feelings
I am delighted to report that the first Injury to Feelings payments are beginning to be made to a large proportion of the first wave of claimants as part of the FBU’s legal victory over discrimination in the government’s pensions reforms. We hope to make progress on releasing the rest of the first wave imminently, and on other claimants in the coming period. This has been a long time coming, and I would like to thank members for their patience, and FBU staff members as well as our National Officer Mark Rowe for their tireless work on this issue.
Farewell
This is the first edition of Firefighter Magazine in 25 years that was not laid up by Alan Slingsby. On behalf of the FBU, I would like to thank Alan for his many years of service to the union, without which this magazine would not be such a success. We wish him all the best for the future.
