Trade union release and conduct of senior officials of the Fire Brigades Union
Fight to free our unions
Riccardo La Torre, FBU Eastern regional secretary and Sacha Ismail, Free Our Unions campaign organiser, say that we need strong legal rights to be able to take action to support our own campaigns as well as those of other workers and climate campaigners. Anti-union laws, severely restricting the...
Now and always, resistance!
Firefighters and trade unionists were essential in liberating Italy from fascism. Their history needs to be remembered, writes Riccardo La Torre "The firemen will be there, again in front rank. We will have learnt in the Fire Brigades Union the lessons which must be applied to society as a whole. We...
Firefighters' union backs walk out from Spycops inquiry
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has backed a walkout of participants from the public inquiry into undercover police spying. The action came in response to the failure of the Mitting inquiry to make any real progress in three years and the refusal of the judge chairing the inquiry, Sir John Mitting, to...
Stand Up to Racism Trade Union Conference
FBU North West Secretary, Mark Rowe, will be speaking at the Stand Up to Racism Trade Union Conference on Saturday 10th February. The event will feature speakers, workshops and plenary sessions. For more information visit their website. EVENT DETAILS: WHEN: Saturday 10 February, 11am-4.30pm WHERE...
Challenge and opportunity
Francis Beckett explains how the War and the vision of its general secretary transformed the FBU. The Second World War presented Britain’s fire service with its biggest ever challenge – to ensure the country survived a mass bombing campaign over its cities. The solution was to give the FBU its...
Nine weeks of struggle
The first national FBU strike in 1977 established a pay system that was to last decades. Helen Hague explains how and why. Forty years ago, firefighters across the UK began their first national strike as anger over low pay bubbled up from the grassroots. The Labour government never really believed...
FTU submission to the Middlebrook committee on pay, pensions and hours
Given that it was partly the police strike that inspired firefighters to set up their own union, it is not surprising that one of the first acts of the new Firemen’s Trade Union was to seek pay, pensions and working hours parity with police. The government established a committee, headed by Liberal...
