Strike ballot on at London’s fire authority

When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions. As Brian Coleman, chair of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, finds his colourful remarks about the Fire Brigades Union are disapproved of upstairs, so the two other unions represented at London Fire Brigade prepare to take action in defence of their redundancy pay. (I first wrote about the likelihood of this happening earlier this month).

Unison and the GMB union, who represent about 80 per cent of LFB’s 1000 or so support and office staff, served notice on their employer this week to ballot for strike action after LFB decided to cut severance pay from three weeks for every year worked to one week. The unions say this is a breach of contract; the bosses say it isn’t.

“Although further talks were mooted, we got the impression the employer wasn’t particularly serious about them,” says GMB regional organiser Clive Smith. “There’s been no proper offer for us to consider.”

The ballot should start next week and, in case of a yes vote (which they expect) the strike could theoretically be as soon as the week after that, though it seems unlikely.

Meanwhile the FBU dispute remains unresolved – and the possibility remains that all three unions could co-ordinate action.

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The London fire strike nobody’s talking about

So the FBU have called off their Bonfire Night strike. But their dispute rumbles on, unresolved albeit with an improved offer from the London Fire Brigade. There could yet be another strike. And that could set the scene for major co-ordinated action.

As I report in Tribune today, another strike is looming at the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, the civil authority that directs the LFB’s policy. Unison and the GMB – who together represent 80 per cent of the authority’s 1,000 or so control centre and other support staff – are planning strike ballots:

Charles Adje, GMB branch secretary for LFEPA, said: “We will be co-ordinating the ballot [with Unison]. If the FBU wants to work with us, we are happy to work with them.” Unison branch secretary Tony Philips said: “If the FBU are in dispute, we’ll definitely have action with them.” Both unions have voted to strike in consultative ballots in the last two months.

LFEPA has decided to pay redundant staff a week’s pay per year served, instead of mutiplying the total sum by three as previously. The unions believe redundancy terms cannot be changed without new contracts. A spokesman for LFEPA said they had not been notified of any strike ballot and declined to comment on redundancy pay.

Even if the FBU doesn’t strike again, this would seem to be the biggest co-ordinated strike in the country since the coalition took power. In fact London is a veritable hotbed of public sector union agitation at the moment. Outside LFEPA, there isn’t a lot of actual, deliberate co-ordination going on, but watch this space.

Full story here.