Firefighters' strike: a smart, strategic move by the union

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/18/firefighters-strike-strategic-union

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The announcement by the firefighters' union of a four-hour strike next week in England and Wales is a great example of a smart, strategic strike. For more than two years, the union has been in negotiations with Whitehall over the proposed reform of firefighters' pension scheme. The Fire Brigades Union deliberately held back from joining in with more than 30 other unions on the strike of the 30 November 2011 and the smaller strikes of 2012. It did so because it felt then there was some prospect of reaching an agreement.

No one, therefore, could accuse the FBU of rushing into this action. Indeed, it called for urgent talks with the government after it finally held a strike ballot and which then resulted in an overwhelming mandate for action. So, the first part of being smart was being reasonable before the strike. But now that the government has spurned talks, the FBU is still being cleverly reasonable.

It had 28 days from the 29 August this year to call a strike otherwise its lawful mandate would have expired and it would have had to reballot – a process that can take about two months. In order to maintain the lawful mandate some kind of action needed to be held. But the union has not gone for the nuclear option. Four hours – rather than say the 15 minutes that the Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude suggested back in 2011– is a statement of serious intent that leaves the union somewhere to go if a subsequent escalation is required. This shows the FBU has learnt a valuable lesson since its unsuccessful national strikes in 2002-2003. At that time it jumped in early with a two-day strike closely followed by an eight-day strike.

The FBU has also learned the value of the art of presentation. Back then, the national strikes were for a salary of £30,000, but this was more often cited as a demand for a 40% pay rise. Today, the union points out that ageing firefighters are a risk to the public and themselves in an extremely demanding job. Picking the last day of the Labour conference also shows that the FBU has an eye to maximizing the public and political attention its cause receives.

Are there lessons to be learned for other unions as teachers and postal workers prepare for their own national strikes? Notwithstanding the facts that the fire service is a vital strategic operation, that firefighters are held in special regard by the general public and that they have a strong, unifying identity, there seem to be three main lessons.

First, only move to action when negotiations hit an impasse, and take the kind of action that can begin to break the deadlock. The problem for the 30 November 2011 strike was that concessions that were accepted after the strike were pretty much the ones available before the strike. The strike changed very little. The FBU is clearly prepared to up the ante when necessary as its general secretary, Matt Wrack, told the government the four-hour strike is a "warning shot".

Second, the union leadership must ensure its members are prepared to go the whole hog, while not also being held to what other unions might or might not do. After the November 2011 mass strike, the unions involved moved at the pace of the slowest, meaning that momentum was lost and disunity emerged. By the time civil servants, lecturers and teachers took action in the spring of 2012, it felt like a lost cause.

Third, take action that packs a punch. Regional and department-by-department actions may seem to offer greater impact than can be gained by a single national one-day strike. But that has not proved to be the case since November 2011 in the civil service, schools or the NHS. Public sector strikes are far more political than they are economic and that must be very much borne in mind.

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