Andy Gilchrist: Union boss under fire from friend and foe

The Monday Interview: General Secretary, Fire Brigades Union

In private, Andy Gilchrist must occasionally wonder whether he is leading Britain's 50,000 firefighters up the garden path. After all, the Government has registered its determination to bring in sweeping reforms to the fire service and if necessary, it seems, sweep away the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) at the same time.

If he has harboured such misgivings, the left-wing general secretary of the FBU is not letting on.

Mr Gilchrist and his executive have prepared a contingency plan for months of strikes, varying from two-hour walkouts to stoppages lasting four days.

''We are prepared for a lengthy period of industrial action,'' Mr Gilchrist says, "and that is because our employers make it clear that the only negotiations that can take place are on the basis that we unreservedly commit ourselves to their agenda. Any right- thinking person would say that this is no way to conduct negotiations or treat people.''

The agenda to which Mr Gilchrist refers is the report drawn up by Sir George Bain last year, which called for the introduction of virtually all the changes recommended by the fire authorities over the past five years. Almost every element of firefighters' working conditions were to be changed in return for a pay increase of 4 per cent from last November and 7 per cent from next November. Indeed, Sir George went considerably further than employers who had agreed a deal worth 16 per cent but which was vetoed by ministers. Fire authorities were prepared to concede 4 per cent from November – at the top end of public service pay increases – without any agreement to reform. Any additional increases were to be funded through agreements on productivity.

Ministers so far are insisting that the union signs up to the Bain review – funded by the Government and boycotted by the union – if it is to receive any wage increase whatsoever. "We believeBain's proposals would lead to 4.500 job losses. That is unacceptable. We are prepared to modernise, indeed we have made the running on a number of issues, but we want to negotiate, not capitulate.''

If there is no peace settlement soon, firefighters could be on strike during a war against Iraq and at a time when the soldiers crewing Green Goddess fire engines could be needed for active duty. Senior officers have admitted publicly that the absence of military personnel because of firefighters strikes could impair Britain's ability to prosecute the war.

It has led some critics to question the patriotism of Mr Gilchrist and his members. "I'm a patriot and I'm also an internationalist," Mr Gilchrist says. "Firefighters are generally extremely patriotic, a high percentage of them have done military service, many of them in the Falklands and in the Gulf War. I hope people don't really believe that firefighters are unpatriotic.''

But wouldn't the lack of critical military personnel put soldiers' lives at even greater risk? It is known, for instance, that naval firefighters are needed on aircraft carriers so the planes can land and take off safely.

"It is not us who are putting soldiers' lives at risk. They should remove the need for us to take strike action and they can do that by allowing us to negotiate.''

While opinion polls have shown an ambivalent attitude among most people towards the strikes, Mr Gilchrist believes the FBU still enjoys "tremendous public support''.

He says: "Even those people who are doubtful will know that in their own walk of life, that where there are differences of opinion, the best way of resolving them is to negotiate. This is our agenda, that is yours, let's examine the arguments.

"The support we have received during this dispute has been quite remarkable. People come up to me and say, 'You are that firefighting bloke aren't you? Well, good on you, well done.' We have had support in every part of the United Kingdom. It has been overwhelming. These people are not simply saying things I want to hear.''

To believe the FBU is a one-man band, being led reluctantly by a militant left-winger, would be a mistake. Indeed, he has come under fire from more radical elements in the union for not taking much tougher industrial action and for postponing strikes last year. Rarely during an industrial dispute does a union call off scheduled strikes and then resume the conflict at a later date.

Mr Gilchrist says his union is deliberately adopting an unorthodox strategy. "When we have called off industrial action, it was because we thought there was a chance of serious negotiation. Some people thought it was a sign of weakness. That is not the case, we have tried to show flexibility. It would be a big mistake to see it as a sign of weakness."

Some ultra-left activists have argued for an all-out indefinite strike, but the union's leadership has decided against such a strategy, partly because it believes its members could be "starved'' back to work during a long conflict.

"We have learnt the lessons of previous industrial disputes. In the past there has been a familiar pattern. They begin with talks, the talks break down and the workers stay out, sometimes for a lengthy period of time. The union is never sure whether it has won or not. Sadly on many occasions they haven't.''

Mr Gilchrist has also come under attack for putting the union's name to a claim for a 40 per cent pay increase, which would put firefighters on £30,000 a year. Wasn't such a claim pie in the sky, a hostage to fortune?

"You don't get a 20 per cent increase if you ask for 10 per cent. We must have the most well-known pay claim in the world at the moment. We wanted to sit down with the employers on the basis of their offer of 16 per cent. We wanted to sit down and haggle and negotiate. The Government stepped in and said we can't do that.

"We sat there with our claim for 40 per cent; they sat there offering 16. Would our members' accept less than 40 per cent? We don't know, because we never had the opportunity to put any proposed settlement to them. We have never had the opportunity to ask them.''

Many senior trade unionists believe the union is heading for defeat and they have been urging the Government to offer the firefighters "a way out''. The Government has been warned that winning a comprehensive victory over the FBU would have consequences in the Labour Party.

Apart from the firefighters' union, other Labour affiliates – the GMB general union and the RMT rail union – have already cut back on contributions to the party.

Mr Gilchrist insists colleagues in other unions have not been offering him such dire forebodings.

Union leaders, however, have been slightly more open in criticising the FBU general secretary for a speech he made at a political gathering last year. Mr Gilchrist told left- wingers he wanted to campaign against New Labour in favour of "Real Labour''. The right-wing press adduced that as evidence that he was leading a political strike. It has been said in Labour movement circles that he was ill-advised to make such comments in the middle of high profile industrial action.

"The only people who have tried to drag this into the political arena have been the Government, saying that I wanted to undermine the British economy and bring the Government down. All I said was that I wanted to engage a legitimate campaign for Real Labour.''

But did he regret it? "No. That speech was a contribution to a debate on the way the Government is taking the country. I think I am entitled as a Labour Party member and trade unionist to make such a contribution. I said people should join the Labour Party, should stay in the Labour Party and affect its direction, not desert it nor undermine it.''

Observers point out that it was the FBU that initiated the whole dispute by insisting on the abolition of a pay formula that had kept the peace since the only other national fire strike in 1978.

"That pay formula had been failing our members for anything up to 10 years because of the group of workers we were linked with.'' Wage increases for firefighters were based on those paid to the upper quartile of male manual earnings – a group that has not kept pace with the rest of the economy.

The union wants firefighters' pay to be linked to the "associate professional'' group, which has received bigger increases.

The dispute has taken its toll on the Gilchrist family. There have been threats of violence against his wife and his two children.

At one stage they were followed everywhere they went. Mr Gilchrist was being pursued by the tabloid press, which was interested in catching him engaged in some activity or other not appropriate for a man leading a national strike.

"It's obvious for any human being it is very disconcerting when your family and children are being targeted for what you are doing as an elected representative. The Surrey Police have been fantastic in the way they have dealt with it. It will not deflect me from doing my job. We will not be blackmailed into risking our lives for poor levels of pay. Firefighters feel under-funded, underpaid and under attack.

"One thing will most certainly happen. There will be a negotiated settlement. We would rather it came without strike action.''