Features

How a solid vote for strike action won an improved offer - and the FBU executives' recommendation The weeks leading up to the publication of this issue of Firefighter have been dramatic. On 30 January, FBU members delivered a historic mandate for strike action over pay. With a 73% turnout, 88% voted...

Helen Hague celebrates the history and importance of Wortley Hall - built by aristocrats but now owned by the workers Wortley Hall, a Georgian mansion in South Yorkshire, was built for aristocrats who got rich on coal and the toil of miners in the pit they owned nearby. The ancestral home of the...

The latest red plaques to be unveiled honour the bravery, service, humanity and selflessness of firefighters who gave their lives in the line of duty over more than a century Half a century ago, fire spread from a disused paint shop in Glasgow, ripping through nearby buildings. Battling through fire...

With only the third ever national fire service strike in prospect, Will Stone talks to FBU members involved in previous disputes November marked the 20th anniversary of the start of a nationwide strike by more than 50,000 firefighters over pay. It was a bitter dispute lasting more than six months...

We are in the middle of a national strike ballot on pay. The first in over 20 years. The importance and significance of this is huge. We should remind ourselves how we ended up here. In the summer, despite rampant inflation, our employers made us a 2% pay offer. FBU members were shocked and insulted...

Gregor Gall, author of a new book on the politics and influence of Joe Strummer of the Clash, recalls his support for the FBU and other causes Photo: With thanks to George Binette The twentieth anniversary of two significant moments for many FBU members falls this autumn. The first is the benefit...

As world leaders gather once again to discuss the climate crisis, Helen Hague looks at its impact on a UK fire service crippled by cuts Photo: Paul Wood July saw the temperature in parts of the UK exceeding 40 degrees centigrade for the first time in recorded history. In the driest July since 1935...

Issues facing retained duty firefighters – pay, crewing and the impact of more floods and wildfires – are the same as those affecting full-time members of the FBU – as RDS members told Will Stone Photo: Courtesy of Willie Urquhart/WHFP UK villages and towns are protected by an 18,000-strong force of...

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack explains the union’s strategy for achieving a fair pay offer Following an FBU campaign and preparation for strike action, fire service employers revised their pay offer to 5%. In June, they offered a 2% annual increase. The shift is the result of hard work by FBU...

Firefighter Gavin Marshall, a brigade secretary for Humberside and regional treasurer, was the first European to play professional baseball in the USA. He spoke to Steve Morgan Gavin Marshall always had two dreams: “To play professional baseball, and be a firefighter.” By the age of 27, Gavin had...