Equalities

After Hurricane Melissa hit the Caribbean in October, the FBU Black and Ethnic Minority Members (B&EMM) Committee launched a donation drive. BE&MM sectional chair Karen Bell reports When Hurricane Melissa hit the island of Jamaica no one could have imagined the storm’s ferocity, or the trail of...

Threats to women’s specific PPE are a safety risk, says the FBU’s National Women’s Committee In 1996, firefighter Fleur Lombard lost her life in the line of duty. Her death remains a stark reminder that inadequate PPE design can have fatal consequences. Nearly three decades later, the same danger...

The FBU’s LGBT+ section stands in full solidarity with our trans and non-binary siblings, writes interim LGBT+ national sectional secretary Maria Buck  Earlier this year, Supreme Court judges ruled that women and men are defined in equalities law by biological sex recorded at birth. While this has...

Cuts to Personal Independent Payments (PIP) threaten to make life harder for thousands – including FBU members, writes Dawn Forrest of the FBU Disabled and Neurodivergent members forum Westminster plans set out in April will tighten the eligibility criteria for PIP, so that claimants must meet...

Kasey LeGall, interim secretary of the Black and Ethnic Minority Members section (B&EMM) on fire service culture reviews, mental health, and driving change through the union In recent years, an increasing number of fire and rescue services have commissioned “culture reviews”, investigating...

Maria Buck, acting secretary of the FBU’s LGBT+ section, on trade union solidarity against the far right LGBT+ history month in the UK was founded in 2005 by Schools Out, a group of LGBT+ activists from teachers trade unions. The month of February is a time when we celebrate the lives, achievements...

Lewis Clark, Scotland east area chair, on why White Ribbon Day should inspire men to take action White Ribbon Day, observed annually on 25 November, is a global movement dedicated to raising awareness about violence against women and girls (VAWG) and advocating for positive social change. It is a...

The FBU B&EMM committee reports from this year’s FBU black and ethnic minority members’ school The FBU black and ethnic minority members section (B&EMM) national committee hosted its annual school at Wortley Hall, Sheffield. This year we recognised 30 years of the section, discussing the journey so...

The FBU sent a delegation of four to this year’s TUC LGBT+ conference in London in June. A motion from the FBU LGBT+ section focused on challenging the Conservatives’ plans to deport immigrants and failed asylum seekers to Rwanda. The FBU LGBT+ committee considered this to be an important issue for...

National secretary Amit Malde, London secretary Corneil Power and national vice-chair Kasey LeGall of the FBU’s black and ethnic minority members (BEMM) section attended the TUC black workers’ conference in London. Amit Malde reports Each union’s equalities section could submit one motion for debate...