Thanks for re-election and an appeal for unity

CIRCULAR: 2010HOC0303MW

28 April 2010

TO: ALL MEMBERS

Dear Brother / Sister

THANKS FOR RE-ELECTION AND AN APPEAL FOR UNITY

I would like to express my thanks at being re-elected as General Secretary. It has been a huge honour to hold this position for the past five years. Having stood for re-election on my record, I am extremely pleased and proud that members have given me a mandate to serve for a second term. I wish to particularly thank the wide layer of officials and activists throughout the Union who campaigned on my behalf.

The future of our Service

The past five years have been among the most difficult ever faced by our Union. Under the guise of so-called ‘modernisation’, we have seen our jobs and conditions of service attacked relentlessly. As a result, we have seen more industrial disputes during the past five years than at any time in the Union’s history, as members have fought to defend local services and resist attempts to impose detrimental change. On every single occasion, members engaged in such fights have had the full and wholehearted support of myself, of the Head Office team, the Executive Council – and indeed of members throughout the UK. I pledge that this will continue to be the case for as long as I am General Secretary.

Nobody wants to see industrial action in the Fire and Rescue Service but Fire Service politicians and Chief Officers should take note that FBU members will not allow our Service to be dismantled under the cuts agenda we now face.

After the General Election we are likely to face an even tougher time. All the main parties have talked of the need to make major cuts in public spending. For us that is likely to mean:

•Further attempts to cut jobs and services.

•Further attacks on our pensions.

•Further attacks on shifts and other conditions of service.

•Further restrictions on pay.

•The continued threat to our Emergency Fire Controls.

In these circumstances, there are no easy answers for us. Anyone who claims otherwise is being either naive or dishonest. We face the prospect of the worst cuts in living memory – and we need to be prepared to fight back to resist them.

We have campaigned for the past five years to highlight and defend the role of our Service and we have especially challenged those who seek to undermine the emergency intervention role of Firefighters. We have done this through our campaigning on Firefighter fatalities, on flood response and against Control Regionalisation. As part of this campaigning, we have held some of the largest trade union lobbies of Parliament in recent years – despite that fact that we are very far from being the largest trade union in the UK. This year we hope to build on this work by campaigning around the theme of Fire Service response times as a part of our battle against the cuts.

I am acutely conscious that the threat of attacks has not disappeared. The Employers and Government seem as determined as ever to pursue their damaging agenda. But I firmly believe that our Union is better-placed than it has been for a long time to confront them.

With extremely tough battles to come, we will need to be united and organised as never before. I appeal to all members and officials to unite to defend our Service and our profession from the cuts and attacks we will all face in the coming period.

Let’s move forward together.

Thank you

Best wishes.

Yours fraternally

MATT WRACK

GENERAL SECRETARY

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