Never trust a tory....or politician.
Never trust a tory....or politician.
MEETING OF NEW FIRE AUTHORITY
Yesterday (26 June), a meeting took place of the newly-constituted London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) – the first since the local council elections in May.
As a senior Fire Brigades Union official, I received a special invitation to attend the meeting alongside a number of other interested parties and members of the public. I had hoped that, with recent improvements in the relationship between the union and brigade, a new, fresh authority might give further impetus to better industrial relations.
What I witnessed, however, was a spectacle that brought shame on all those involved. The meeting, having been opened by the new authority chair, Councillor Brian Coleman, rapidly descended into chaos and anarchy. Firstly, the chair omitted to follow the custom of welcoming newly-elected authority members onto the authority.
Then, following a collective prayer (a new departure in itself) led by a brigade chaplain, a major bout of squabbling began over vapid and bureaucratic points of procedure, with one party – the Tories – attempting a naked power grab, much to the consternation of everyone else.
What ensued was like something out of a kindergarten: raised voices, name-calling, accusation and counter-accusation, pointing fingers, shouting, and the complete bypassing of the protocols of debate. Fire service issues – which, after all, are what these authority members were there to discuss – were forced to take a back seat. It was narrow party politics at its very worst, as Tory and Labour members went hammer and tongs at each other in the full glare of the public. The only group on the authority to emerge with any credit were the Liberal Democrats, whose members seemed completely exasperated. Looking around the public gallery, it was apparent that most other observers were also aghast at what was taking place before them.
This behaviour continued for a considerable length of time, to the point where I and the FBU's London regional secretary, Joe MacVeigh, felt we had no option but to show our dismay at the proceedings by leaving the meeting.
Some time after, in the hope that things had settled down, we returned to the meeting. Amongst other things, we heard a statement from the authority's deposed chair, Valerie Shawcross, to the effect that the authority should congratulate itself for the improvements brought about in the area of training and development of firefighters. It's a pity Ms Shawcross did not speak to any firefighters at stations before making such a statement, most of whom would have confirmed that there has been a worrying slippage on the focus placed on the core skills of firefighters due to disproportionate resources being directed towards other initiatives. Instead of patting themselves on the back, authority members would do well to take a long hard look at the level of demoralisation throughout the London Fire Brigade, which is currently at an all time low, and which is being compounded by backward decisions such as those recently made in respect of protected pay and accommodation changes.
As a long-standing trade union activist, I recognise fully the need for open and democratic discussion and debate on committees. Disagreement is often healthy; after all, we don’t want a “nodding dog” fire authority, whose members agree with each other on everything. But there can be no justification for the kind of public mudfight to which we were all subjected yesterday. That these authority members are charged with the responsibility of running the third largest fire brigade on the planet, and making key decisions that affect FBU members, troubles me greatly. I do, however, take some comfort from the fact that those senior uniformed officers present, including the commissioner, seemed genuinely embarrassed by the whole charade.
It is ironic that these authority members are often happy to refer to the FBU as “mindless militants”, yet here they were fighting like ferrets in a sack in front of the public over arcane and trivial points of procedure. If the FBU’s London regional committee were to conduct itself in such a fashion, I would be thoroughly ashamed.
I shall be writing to the chair of the authority, Brian Coleman, and the commissioner, Ron Dobson, to express the union’s anger and frustration at yesterday’s events, and I will inform members of any response.
Yours
Ian *******
Executive Council Member for London
Fire Brigades Union
***********************************************************
Wasters, the lot of them. anyone who thinks the tories are going to be a brave new dawn after this shower are in for a rude awakening.
They don't serve the country, they help themselves.
DT_Xtremez_34:
