Reject Fbu 18 Month Deal!

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The FBU Executive will go to a further recall conference this week in a bid to foist onto their members a pay offer which effectively ends the agreement won in the nine week strike of 1977-78.

The offer-widely reported as a victory, giving firemen their full 18.8% claim-is nothing of the sort.

The link between FBU pay and the upper quartile male manual workers' wage is broken: instead firemen have been offered 13% backdated to the review date of November 7 and another 5.8% in April.

The employers have also made it clear that they wish in future to change the fire service pay review date to April.

Divided

Thus, though the FBU Executive now deny it vehemently, it seems most likely that if the offer is accepted, there will be no more pay settlements for firemen until April 1982!

Indeed though they are now pressing the case strongly, the FBU EC was itself divided on the offer when first they discussed it.

Eight votes went for rejection-and eight for acceptance. Only on the casting vote of the chair was the offer carried as EC policy, and the first of the one-day strikes which they were mandated to call was cancelled.

The revised offer from management came in the face of massive support for the action both within the FBU and from the labour movement. The TUC had declared support: so too had the Fire Officers' Association which had supervised army strikebreakers during the last strike.

Dissipated

Even small breakaway unions supported the FBU action-while the Retained Firefighters Union's call for scabbing was being flouted by its own local members.

Yet this strength nas now been dissipated by the EC's failure to proceed with the first one-day stoppage and the widespread confusion on the nature of the offer.

Few workers realise that the empłoyers have insisted on attaching a "statement of intent" • to the offer, which includes a call to examine manning levels and a declaration that redundancies cannot be ruled out.

Own time

Discussions will be sough it on more effective use of manpr ›wer including:

• *Rota systems-less rest off variable manning:

*Whole time/retained firemen to be on call in their own time.

* Loss of agreed rest days.

*Work routines: more inspections by firemen (meaning a cut in fire prevention staff).

*Travelling expenses-a fringe benefit could be lost.

*Tradesmen's work -firemen having to do tradesmen's work (building maintenance etc) on their fire stations.

The FBU EC have meekly the empty staterut made no ring the employers to reject the deal.

Instead they have claimed that "there are no strings attached to the pay offer. They are not conditional on the union accepting redundancies or other forms of worsening conditions."

Many brigades are not convinced. They are prepared to reject the offer. The claim can still be won if the action is pressed forward without delay.

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And they are now refusing even to negotiate any further unless union leaders and shop stewards give a written undertaking that they will help enforce the company's new dictatorial disciplinary system.

They want an explicit New.

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