FBU members in Manchester met with the Trade Union Blues, a group of football fans taking on profiteering club owners and organising as trade unionists. Steve Morgan reports
You’ll never walk alone may be the preferred terrace anthem at Anfield. But as Manchester’s football-loving firefighters – be they City blue, United red – or in FBU rep Patrick Brennan’s case, Burnley – have discovered, trade union members everywhere can join forces as football fans.
Last month Brennan – rep at Salford and a Greater Manchester firefighter these past eight years, brought a special guest to their branch meeting: Chris Neville from Trade Union Blues (TUB), a collective of time-served Manchester City fans from various unions, representing fans and club employees’ interests.
FANS WINNING
Neville, also president of Manchester Trades Council – the city’s umbrella body for trade unions since 1866 – explained how the TUB model can be replicated to put fan pressure on clubs. He detailed concessions won on season-ticket prices – frozen at City for the first time in five years – and how the group can confront the attempts of far-right organisations such as Britain First to infiltrate clubs.
“We’ve ended up using our organising experience as trade unionists to bring the club into a new area, and get results for working-class people,” Neville says.
EXTERNAL FORCES
Brennan felt the meeting – football offering a new and refreshing perspective to union discussions – was a thought-provoking reminder of the value of collective bargaining.
“It went down really, really well,” he said. “Chris spoke punchily, and people pricked their ears up and bought into it – the thinking behind it was to try and get people to look at the bigger picture, those external forces that shape our lives outside of the fire station.”
“Members sometimes ask ‘what’s the union got to do with politics?’ he adds. “But – as with sport and politics – the two things are inseparable. You can’t bring about changes in your workplaces unless you can enforce that wider change – it’s exactly the same with sport.”
TUB only formed at the start of the year, but Neville – a season-ticket holder at City for 30 years – is buoyed by their success, and wants to help spread the message.
NINE MINUTES
“We may be City-related,” he says. “But we’re keen to encourage fans of other clubs who are trade unionists to try similar initiatives, because ultimately all fans get shafted by the same things.”
Among TUB’s achievements thus far were last season’s visible, well-planned protests – fans were asked not to take their seats until nine minutes into April’s game with Leicester City, in response to the club pairing with a ninth ticket resale partner in Viagogo – and the capping of individual match-ticket prices.
Ultimately, like any union action, it’s about solidarity and shared connections – people and community. “A lot of us used to go to City games together, meeting up before the game,” says Neville.
UNITY
“The other thing we had in common was that we were all trade unionists or reps, or working for unions, so decided to set something up formally. Not long after we did, we kind of got thrown into action, because City owners have been doing things that have pissed the fans off for ages.”
Brennan feels football can be a unifying, rallying force and can testifies to lively afternoons following games when at work. “You can’t escape football in fire stations – it’s everywhere, especially when you’re working weekends,” he says. “It’s part of the morale, the team building, a big part of fire-station life.”
CLUB WORKERS’ RIGHTS
He feels the TUB model, with a combined total of 150 years of union membership at committee level, is instructive and easily adaptable. The Football Supporters Association (FSA) agree – they recently passed a motion to support the unionisation of football workers – the TUB, as members of the FSA, will collaborate with them and fans’ groups to try and push clubs to offer better workers’ rights.
“It’s a perfect example of what can happen with proper organising, really – getting around a shared issue, banding together” says Brennan.
AN OPEN GOAL
“It’s nothing new, but it’s very easy to understand. A lot of our members are really young, and haven’t had the experience of the power of proper organising like that. Combining that with something as relatable as football is just an open goal. The response was really good – from Reds and Blues.” Not forgetting Burnley.
