Fire union chief pledges to topple New Labour
Da Observer | 01.12.2002 20:59
Exorcise the nation! Blair and his cronies declared unfit to govern! This morning Radio Five presenters were talking about Tony Blair's New Labour project as 'more right wing than the Tories' and 'fascist'. They are absolutely right. Blair was not democratically elected leader of the Labour party. Firefighters leader Andy Gilchrist echoes the sentiments of the nation and Blair is nowhere. At least Maggie was an honest Tory. Blair's got to go. The British people, led by good old Gilchrist, have decided!
Fire union chief pledges to topple New Labour
Fire union chief pledges to topple New Labour
http://www.observer.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,851581,00.html
Gilchrist: Government provoked strikes which could last till summer
Kamal Ahmed and Oliver Morgan
Sunday December 1, 2002
The Observer
The leader of the Fire Brigades Union last night pledged to overthrow Tony Blair's New Labour project as the bitter dispute widened into an ideological confrontation between union bosses and the Government.
In a move that is set to turn the strike into one of the gravest political battles since the miners' dispute of the Eighties, Andy Gilchrist said that the Government had 'ensured and provoked' a strike and that it was time for the trade union movement to consider whether it should fund the Labour Party.
'I'm quite prepared to work to replace New Labour with what I'm prepared to call Real Labour,' Gilchrist said at a rally in Manchester. His comments brought immediate condemnation from the Government, with one Minister accusing the FBU leader of 'losing the plot'.
As the dispute intensified amid warnings that strikes could go on for months, The Observer can reveal that the Government is now planning to introduce new legislation which will force through modernisation of the fire service whether firefighters, who are due to walk out again on Wednesday for a second eight-day strike, agree or not.
Underlining the Government's resolve not to give in to the strikers, a White Paper to be introduced in the New Year will be the first legisla tion on the service since the last Fire Services Act of 1947. It will require firefighters to learn paramedic skills, a move that will be resisted by the health unions, and will order them to work jointly with other emergency services.
'It is necessary to bring the fire service into the twenty-first century,' said a Government source. 'They are going to have to face up to change.'
A controversial no-strike clause will be 'open for discussion,' the source said, revealing that the two sides in the dispute were now further apart than at any point in the past two months.
Government officials expressed surprise that Gilchrist had made such an overtly political speech. He told The Observer later that the FBU 'will be talking about planning strikes in the New Year and beyond, possibly into the summer'.
The new series of strikes could tie the Army up for nearly a month at a time, a move that is causing increasing concern across Whitehall because of the plans for a possible military attack on Iraq.
The Attorney General is still reviewing whether he can use emergency 'public safety' powers to force the strikers back to work.
The Government immediately hit back at Gilchrist's attack. 'He said that this was an industrial dispute,' said one source. 'Now we see it for what it really is - a political battle about the future direction of this country.'
Critics compared Gilchrist to Arthur Scargill, who launched an all-out political attack on Margaret Thatcher before eventually losing the crippling miners' dispute.
Gilchrist strongly denied that his aim was to bring down the Blair Government.
'I fundamentally refute that what I am about or what the union is about is wrecking Mr Blair's career. I don't want to and I have no plan to do so. This is not a political strike. It is a simple dispute about firefighters' pay. All the provocation has come from the Government.'
But despite his protestations, the FBU leader appeared determined to extend the breadth of his attack against the Government beyond the issue of the 16 per cent salary increase, which has been rejected.
He said that war against Iraq would be wrong and directly attacked the Chan cellor's decision to provide £1 billion pounds of funding for any future military campaign. 'It's disgraceful to say that for people in this country who are prepared to risk their lives to save others you can't find any extra money, but you can find at least a billion to bomb innocent men, women and children in Iraq,' he told the rally.
'I have no nostalgic romanticism about old Labour but there are real Labour values built on real social progress, on real justice for working class people and indeed for fairness for all.'
The Pensions Minister, Ian McCartney, brought in to act as a bridge-builder between the Government and the FBU and seen as a friend of the unions, accused Gilchrist of dragging firefighters into his political attacks on Ministers.
'This attack makes no sense. Andy Gilchrist should be spending his time reaching a pay and modernisation agreement for his members, not dragging brave firefighters into his political attacks on the Government.
'As a long-time friend of the FBU, I am saddened that Andy Gilchrist's misjudgments have left his members in this position. He is clearly losing the plot.'
http://www.observer.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,851581,00.html Gilchrist: Government provoked strikes which could last till summer
Kamal Ahmed and Oliver Morgan
Sunday December 1, 2002
The Observer
The leader of the Fire Brigades Union last night pledged to overthrow Tony Blair's New Labour project as the bitter dispute widened into an ideological confrontation between union bosses and the Government.
In a move that is set to turn the strike into one of the gravest political battles since the miners' dispute of the Eighties, Andy Gilchrist said that the Government had 'ensured and provoked' a strike and that it was time for the trade union movement to consider whether it should fund the Labour Party.
'I'm quite prepared to work to replace New Labour with what I'm prepared to call Real Labour,' Gilchrist said at a rally in Manchester. His comments brought immediate condemnation from the Government, with one Minister accusing the FBU leader of 'losing the plot'.
As the dispute intensified amid warnings that strikes could go on for months, The Observer can reveal that the Government is now planning to introduce new legislation which will force through modernisation of the fire service whether firefighters, who are due to walk out again on Wednesday for a second eight-day strike, agree or not.
Underlining the Government's resolve not to give in to the strikers, a White Paper to be introduced in the New Year will be the first legisla tion on the service since the last Fire Services Act of 1947. It will require firefighters to learn paramedic skills, a move that will be resisted by the health unions, and will order them to work jointly with other emergency services.
'It is necessary to bring the fire service into the twenty-first century,' said a Government source. 'They are going to have to face up to change.'
A controversial no-strike clause will be 'open for discussion,' the source said, revealing that the two sides in the dispute were now further apart than at any point in the past two months.
Government officials expressed surprise that Gilchrist had made such an overtly political speech. He told The Observer later that the FBU 'will be talking about planning strikes in the New Year and beyond, possibly into the summer'.
The new series of strikes could tie the Army up for nearly a month at a time, a move that is causing increasing concern across Whitehall because of the plans for a possible military attack on Iraq.
The Attorney General is still reviewing whether he can use emergency 'public safety' powers to force the strikers back to work.
The Government immediately hit back at Gilchrist's attack. 'He said that this was an industrial dispute,' said one source. 'Now we see it for what it really is - a political battle about the future direction of this country.'
Critics compared Gilchrist to Arthur Scargill, who launched an all-out political attack on Margaret Thatcher before eventually losing the crippling miners' dispute.
Gilchrist strongly denied that his aim was to bring down the Blair Government.
'I fundamentally refute that what I am about or what the union is about is wrecking Mr Blair's career. I don't want to and I have no plan to do so. This is not a political strike. It is a simple dispute about firefighters' pay. All the provocation has come from the Government.'
But despite his protestations, the FBU leader appeared determined to extend the breadth of his attack against the Government beyond the issue of the 16 per cent salary increase, which has been rejected.
He said that war against Iraq would be wrong and directly attacked the Chan cellor's decision to provide £1 billion pounds of funding for any future military campaign. 'It's disgraceful to say that for people in this country who are prepared to risk their lives to save others you can't find any extra money, but you can find at least a billion to bomb innocent men, women and children in Iraq,' he told the rally.
'I have no nostalgic romanticism about old Labour but there are real Labour values built on real social progress, on real justice for working class people and indeed for fairness for all.'
The Pensions Minister, Ian McCartney, brought in to act as a bridge-builder between the Government and the FBU and seen as a friend of the unions, accused Gilchrist of dragging firefighters into his political attacks on Ministers.
'This attack makes no sense. Andy Gilchrist should be spending his time reaching a pay and modernisation agreement for his members, not dragging brave firefighters into his political attacks on the Government.
'As a long-time friend of the FBU, I am saddened that Andy Gilchrist's misjudgments have left his members in this position. He is clearly losing the plot.'
Da Observer
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