29 January 2003

Fire Fighters Strike

The CfS executive utterly condemns the decision by the New Labour government to seek to impose a settlement on Fire-fighters by moving to reactivate the Fire Services Act of 1947, repealed as long ago as 1959, in an attempt to allow the government to specify pay, terms and conditions in the fire service.

This is obviously an attempt to bully the FBU into a settlement, a union which is affiliated to the Labour Party and which has been entirely loyal to the Labour cause.

The effect of this bullying is likely to backfire, both by strengthening the resolve of the FBU and by making it more difficult for Labour to win support from voters in Scotland in May who will rightly see this as an act worthy of the worst days of Thatcherism.

Commenting on the move, CfS UK Parliament Spokesperson George Galloway MP said:

'It is typical of New Labour, more and more obviously Thatcherite wolves in Labour clothing, that the importance of negotiation and consultation are ditched in favour of bombast, bluster and bullying. As we have said before and this confirms it, there are now two parties of Labour in Scotland and Britain. One Party, the party CfS belongs to, is the heir of Hardie and Wheatley, it is a party of social justice and social progress. The other is the anti union, war mongering party of Blair and his clique. That clique's days are numbered and Labour public representatives who wish to survive as such when the real traditions of the party reassert themselves, need to identify themselves now by opposing the increasingly right ward drift of the New Labour Leadership.'

Contact Vince Mills Secretary on 0781 461 5224

 

The Citizen / Campaign for Socialism