Why firefighters do not want to take strike action

Published: 28 October, 2010

An open letter to MPs Kate Hoey and Frank Dobson and my local councillors

• I AM a firefighter in the London Fire Brigade, stationed in Camden and living in Stockwell, and I am writing to you to explain the reasons that I and over 4,200 of my colleagues have been involved in industrial action for the last two months and why I and nearly 3,500 of my colleagues have made the hard decision to go out on strike.

For the last five years Brigade Management has been negotiating with the Fire Brigades Union over plans to change operational staff’s contractual hours. I use the term very loosely because it has amounted to nothing more than management trying to bully the FBU into agreeing to a contractual change that 98 per cent of its members say will be detrimental to them, without any form of incentive or compensation.

These changes are not just detrimental to firefighters but are considered by the FBU to be unnecessary and, more worryingly, can also pave the way for the removal of night-time fire cover and a dismantling of the watch system, both of which will put the lives of firefighters and Londoners alike at risk.

In a further effort to impose shift change upon its workforce, on August 11 the London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson, at the bequest of Brian Coleman, the chairman of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, issued the FBU with notice under Section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 that unless its members agreed to the imposition of new shifts, every single one of the 5,557 front line operational staff would be sacked and only be re-employed if they signed up to the new contracts.

This highly provocative and inflammatory move by the commissioner to bully his workforce into signing new contracts or face the sack has angered and saddened the loyal, dedicated and professional firefighters who daily risk their lives to keep the people of London safe.

The decision to take industrial action, and to escalate it to strike action, has been made solely in response to this threat to rip up our contracts and forcibly impose detrimental change.

The fact that Ron Dobson and Brian Coleman have allowed things to go this far reveals a complete lack of leadership and a blatant disregard for the most valuable asset of the LFB; the front-line personnel.

It is clear that the decision not to remove Section 188 is based upon the flawed notion that Asset Co, a private company employed by the LFB to the tune of £12million, can provide adequate fire cover for the Greater London area if a strike were to go ahead.

As a professional firefighter, let me assure you that 27 fire engines (compared with the usual 169), staffed by a workforce that has received scant training (reportedly as little as two weeks) can in no way substitute for professional, experienced, firefighters. They will only be responding to limited fire calls and are not trained to deal with the road traffic accidents, chemical incidents, people under trains, floodings, water rescue incidents, terrorist-related incidents, or any of the other “special service incidents” that London firefighters routinely attend.

Walking out the doors is the last thing that any firefighter wants, but we feel that as long as this threat of dismissal hangs over us there is nothing we can do.

If we are forced to walk out the doors the people of London will be put at great risk. 

You have a duty to the people in your constituency, myself included, to apply as much pressure as you can to force Ron Dobson and Brian Coleman to remove Section 188 and avert this strike.

TIM FRISBY, Crew Manager, LFB