Firefighters have warned the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, that any attempt to lock them out of stations as punishment for taking strike action will jeopardise public safety and inflame the ongoing national dispute over fire service pensions.
The warning comes as the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) prepares to discuss the proposed lockout at its meeting on Thursday.
Paul Embery, secretary for the FBU in London, said: “Boris Johnson and Ron Dobson seem intent on turning a national dispute into a local one. The lockout threat is highly provocative at a time when delicate talks are ongoing and will be seen by our members as a major escalation in the dispute. It beggars belief that the mayor and commissioner should want to deprive Londoners of a fully professional fire service for longer than is absolutely necessary and rely instead on a makeshift group of amateurs whose incompetence has been exposed time and again throughout this dispute.
“A lockout would poison industrial relations in the fire service and could result in longer strikes being called in future. It might also mean an end to a national agreement, currently endorsed by the FBU, which allows firefighters to leave picket lines to respond to major incidents during strike action.
“Firefighters are rightly angry at the plunder of their pensions. Instead of trying to starve them back to work, Mr Johnson and Mr Dobson would do better to use their influence to help bring an end to the national dispute.
“We call on the London fire authority to reject the proposal to lock firefighters out of their stations.”
Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “We have raised our concerns about this today with the fire minister, Penny Mordaunt. The fact that Boris Johnson appears to be pushing for such a provocative approach demonstrates an apparent hatred and hostility towards London’s firefighters.
“Any such move would make the situation worse and would damage industrial relations for a very long time. We have warned the government about this today. They need to step in and prevent such an idiotic move.”
In a paper to the authority – drafted on the orders of the mayor – the commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, Ron Dobson, recommends docking pay equivalent to a full shift even where a strike lasts for less than a shift, a measure known in industrial relations as a ‘lockout’. The recommendation amounts to a U-turn on the part of the commissioner, who, as recently as July, argued that a lockout ‘would have a major industrial relations impact’.
Members of the FBU in England and Wales have been taking strike action periodically since September 2013 over government attacks on their pensions, which include forcing all firefighters to serve on the frontline until 60. Most strikes have lasted no longer than a few hours.
A fresh round of talks between FBU leaders and the fire minister, Penny Mordaunt, are currently taking place, but the union has said that further strikes may be called if no progress is made.
