Focus: Another winter of discontent

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Red alert

When the firefighters go on strike, railwaymen and Tube workers will walk out, too, citing safety fears. And what will the Government do then?

Oliver Morgan, Kamal Ahmed and Amelia Hill
Sunday October 20, 2002
The Observer

Brad has been a firefighter for 23 years. He takes home £14,150 a year, which is just about enough to cover his mortgage and bills. When he's not working as a firefighter, he does another job. He cleans windows.
'I live off my second job, which brings in £100 a week,' he said yesterday. 'Firefighters are not allowed to have second jobs without permission, but if I didn't I couldn't keep my head above water.

'Even with the second job, it's a constant process of juggling priorities: my 16-year-old son needs winter clothes while my 14-year-old daughter needs art equipment for her GCSEs. I can't really afford either, but I can't even start to afford both - what should I do?

'Money is so tight that, when I'm doing the day shift, I don't go home for a week at a time - I just sleep in a corner of the office. We're not allowed to do that either and it creates problems at home with the missus, but when it's between that or getting further into debt what choice do I have?'

Brad, who works at a central London fire station, has had enough. On Friday, along with 50,000 colleagues, he voted to go on strike. It will be the first national strike of the fire service since 1977. A fleet of 800 50-year-old Green Goddess military fire engines will try to take the place of 3,000 modern fire engines. Just over 12,000 Armed Forces personnel will try to do the job of 52,000 firefighters.

Brad probably knows that people's lives will be put at risk. He probably knows that the strike could inflict severe political damage on the whole of the Government. He may even know that the strike is likely to spread and bring the virtual shutdown of vast swaths of British working life. But after the way he has been treated, he thinks it's time for action.

On Wednesday, within the sombre, wood-panelled London headquarters of the train drivers' union Aslef, two of Britain's toughest union leaders will meet for discussions that could lead to the gravest industrial dispute since the winter of discontent in 1979.

The two men, Aslef general secretary Mick Rix and his RMT counterpart, Bob Crow, will agree a plan that will see industrial action spread from the firefighters to the railways.

Crow and Rix believe that, without professional firefighting cover, rail workers will be at risk in the event of an accident. They have taken legal advice that says that, if a safety risk is posed to workers by the absence of firefighters, they do not have to work and cannot be cautioned for refusing to do so.

Bob Crow told The Observer yesterday: 'This could very well escalate into a national rail dispute. It could be the most serious industrial dispute since the 1970s. If an accident takes place like Ladbroke Grove, there is no cutting equipment or breathing apparatus in Green Godesses. They [soldiers] have not got the experience of getting people out of tunnels and trains. It is a scandalous situation to put the travelling public in.

'Aslef have legal advice on this, and I have been in constant contact with Mick about it. Basically, we have the right to refuse to work on the grounds of safety and we can't be disciplined. That is the advice we will be discussing at the meeting, and giving out.'

For the Government, one strike, in a sector as sensitive and essential as the fire service, is difficult. A whole rail network shutdown at the same time would be a disaster. Both sides are playing for very large stakes.

As has been seen in the Department for Education and Skills, reputations hard won over many years can easily be lost. Number 10 fears that a true 'winter of discontent' - fire and rail is about as bad as it gets - could soon badly tarnish the reputation of New Labour.

'What is every issue about, at its simplest?' said one key Number 10 official with extensive knowledge of crisis management within government. 'It is about getting a grip, it is about leading events, not following, it is about writing your own script. Here we are following. It makes everybody nervous.'

At present Tony Blair is keeping his distance. Officials say that he is aware that the public still has some residual fear of Labour and strikes, the former not being able to control the latter. The issue is constantly referred to in sections of the media and it plays badly with the public. With Crow and Rix, Blair has two significant thorns in his side.

more at  http://www.observer.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,815406,00.html