Fire Brigades Union
| Full name | The Fire Brigades Union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1918 |
| Members | 44,000 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Affiliation |
TUC, ICTU STUC, TUCG, EPSU PSI CSC JFC PSC Amnesty International |
| Key people |
Matt Wrack, General Secretary - formerly a Firefighter in London Fire Brigade Alan McLean, President - Firefighter in Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Service Andy Dark, Assistant General Secretary - formerly a Firefighter in London Fire Brigade Jim Barbour, Vice-President - Firefighter in Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service Warren Gee, National Treasurer - Firefighter in Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service Dave Green, National Officer - formerly a Firefighter in Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service John McGhee, National Officer - formerly a Firefighter in Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Service Sean Starbuck, National Officer - formerly a Firefighter in Humberside Fire Service Paul Woolstenholmes, National Officer - formerly a Firefighter in Suffolk Fire Service |
| Office location |
Bradley House 68 Coombe Road KT2 7AE 020 8541 1765 |
| Website | www.fbu.org.uk |
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is a trade union in the United Kingdom for wholetime Firefighters (including Officers up to Chief Fire Officer/Firemaster), Retained Duty System (RDS – part-time) and Emergency Control Room staff. It has around 44,000 members, and represents the majority of uniformed fire brigade staff in the United Kingdom.
History
Foundation
The first recorded instance of trade union organisation of firefighters was when the Municipal Employees' Association recruited several London County Council firemen in early 1905, which by the end of the following year had grown to a branch of 500.[1]
After the entire branch had transferred to the rival National Union of Corporation Workers (NUCW), the branch grew to 1,100 of the 1,300 London firemen and to protect the then branch secretary from potential dismissal, sub-officer E. W. Southgate handed over branch secretaryship to Jim Bradley, a London park-keeper who had been nominated by the union's executive.[2]
Following the strike of police officers on 29 August 1918, Bradley organised a secret ballot of firemen on the issue of strike action over pay and conditions. After winning the right to a representative board for London firemen, the fire brigade branch of NUCW seceded from the union to join the Firemen's Trade Union, what had been a friendly society for around 200 firemen in private brigades led by George Gamble, with Bradley becoming assistant secretary.[3]
In 1930, the union changed its name to the Fire Brigades Union.
Second World War
The Air Raid Precautions Act (1937) contained provisions for recruiting a volunteer force of auxiliaries to supplement existing fire brigades, which were called up on 1 September 1939. The 95,000 called up (89,000 men, 6,000 women) formed the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) far outnumbered the around 6,000 full-time regulars. AFS firefighters were on worse conditions, with regular firemen promoted to be their officers. The war emergency also saw the re-instatement of continuous duty service, which was dropped after a week in favour of a 112 hour week.[4]
The question of the AFS transformed the union, the incumbent leadership, headed by General Secretary Percy Kingdom, held that the AFS were dilutees and therefore should be marginalised. This view was challenged by John Horner and other young firemen and over the course of a protracted dispute which saw all the union's full-time officials resign, Horner was elected General Secretary.[5] Horner then began organising auxiliaries, winning endorsement of this at the 1940 conference of the regular section of the union and saw the union's membership increase from 3,500 in 1939 to 66,500 in 1940.[6]
As a result of the London Blitz, the fire service was nationalised in 1941 by the powers of the Fire Services (Emergency Provisions) Bill.[7]
2002/03 Dispute
Led by its then General Secretary Andy Gilchrist, the union called a strike over pay and conditions in 2002 following an independent review of pay carried out by the same organisation that reviewed MPs' pay. The strike did not achieve its goals and on May 5, 2005, a leftwing candidate, Matt Wrack, defeated Gilchrist in the election for General Secretary, attaining 63.9% of the vote cast (12,883 votes) on a total turnout of about 40% of the membership.
The FBU disaffiliated from the Labour Party in 2004 and calls for reaffiliation have been repeatedly defeated.
Officials
General Secretaries
- 1918 – 1922 George Gamble
- 1922 – 1929 Jim Bradley
- 1929 – 1939 Percy Kingdom
- 1939 – 1964 John Horner
- 1964 – 1980 Terry Parry
- 1980 – 2000 Ken Cameron
- 2000 – 2005 Andy Gilchrist
- 2005 – to date Matt Wrack
Presidents
- 1939 – 1944 Gus Odlin
- 1944 – 1959 John Burns
- 1959 – 1964 Terry Parry
- 1964 – 1977 Enoch Humphries
- 1977 – 1979 Wilf Barber
- 1979 – 1986 Bill Deal
- 1986 – 1991 Stan Fitzsimmons
- 1991 – 1999 Ronnie Scott
- 1999 – 2002 Mick Harper
- 2002 – 2007 Ruth Winters
- 2007 – 2010 Mick Shaw
- 2011 - to date Alan McLean
See also
Notes
- ↑ Bailey, V. "The Early History of the Fire Brigades Union" In: Bailey, V. (1992), pp. 10–11
- ↑ Bailey, V. "The Early History of the Fire Brigades Union" In: Bailey, V. (1992), p. 11
- ↑ Bailey, V. "The Early History of the Fire Brigades Union" In: Bailey, V. (1992), p. 17
- ↑ Bailey, V. "The Early History of the Fire Brigades Union" In: Bailey, V. (1992), pp. 40–43
- ↑ Bailey, V. "The Early History of the Fire Brigades Union" In: Bailey, V. (1992), pp. 43–44
- ↑ Bailey, V. "The Early History of the Fire Brigades Union" In: Bailey, V. (1992), p. 45
- ↑ Bailey, V. "The Early History of the Fire Brigades Union" In: Bailey, V. (1992), pp. 54–55
References
- Bailey, Victor (ed.) (1992) Forged in Fire: the history of the Fire Brigades Union. London: Lawrence & Wishart ISBN 0-85315-750-2
External links
- FBU homepage
- UK Fire News
- Catalogue of the FBU archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
| ||||||||