Firefighters from Cambridgeshire have organised two impromptu lobbies of Parliament to pressure their MPs to act over the 2015 pensions’ regulations.
Here, firefighter Cameron Matthews tells us how it was done and what it achieved.
This event was not FBU organised but just a group of grassroots, working class men and women, dissatisfied with the injustice of the current firefighter pension proposals who all wanted some answers.
While we were waiting on the platform at Cambridge for the train to London, discussing what impact we could have when a man approached us to say: “Good luck fellas”.
We got on our train buoyed by the spontaneous support that this gentleman went out of his way to give us.
The train journey gave us a great opportunity to go over our plans regarding the key messages we needed to convey to MPs when we were overheard by a group of women heading for a day out in London.
We told them why we were heading to London. Then as we were disembarking at Kings Cross they turned to shout back to us, “By the way we all support you”.
We jumped on the London Underground arriving at Parliament for midday and by chance met with another large group of ardent campaigners – the National Pensioners Convention.
They were a fantastic group lobbying their MPs on the same day, with near identical grievances to ours – the theft of pensions from the next generation. As we stood shoulder-to-shoulder talking with our fellow working class men and women, there was a strong sense of joint purpose, shared experiences and unity.
After about an hour we entered Westminster to lobby our own MPs through the Green Card process, a system whereby any member of the public can request, by filling in a green card, to see their MP in person at the central lobby at Parliament.
One highlight of the day was bumping into a surprised and very sheepish Eric Pickles, secretary of state for communities and local government. He scuttled away when he saw us without comment to avoid the direct challenges as to why he was stealing our futures, in front of the other members of the public speaking with their MPs.
Our second lobby of parliament was shorter but still effective. In the short time we were there we managed to speak to seven MPs and two parliamentary aides from a range of political parties.
Our group even requested a meeting with Westminster fire minister Penny Mordant herself as we had found out she was in the building.
Whilst initially agreeing, she in the end resorted to sending an aide in her place which was disappointing. However her aide listened to our evidence based arguments on the unfair pension regulations and was, dare we say, to some degree sympathetic with what we had to say.
At the same time the BBC were broadcasting a live news segment from central lobby resulting in, with some careful placement, 15 firefighters on national news occupying the entire background of a news story.
The day ended with a visit to Liberal Democrat MP Julian Huppert who listened to our case and agreed to sign EDM 454 to support firefighters and also support our cause through the media and other parliamentary means.
We hope that other Liberal Democrat MPs will also take an objective view, listen to the evidence and consider a similar fair stance supported by the public.
Let’s be clear, this is not the panacea and 50 firefighters lobbying their MPs will not solve our pension dispute. But it helps. It makes a difference. It makes our claim visible.
Without having attended these relatively small lobbies we would not have met the range and number of people we did and would not have been able to communicate the injustice of the 2015 Firefighters Pension Scheme being laid before Parliament.
Secondly, what was also curious was the personal sense of community we experienced. Despite what the media would have you believe, community spirit is not dead. People do still care about each other and have a sense of right and wrong. This helped us coin a phrase for the day that embodied the experience – “community unity”.
Now we were just 50 firefighters over two days trying to make an impact. Imagine what a nation of 45,000 self-motivated, determined and committed firefighters could do.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has” – Margaret Mead
We would like to thank all who attended both days from different brigades across the country, we hope it was a valuable and worthwhile experience that can encourage others in the future.
Standing together united we can overcome anything. We are firefighters. It’s in our nature.
