From front line to picket line

By Rob Cave
BBC Radio Four

Last summer 1,000 Merseyside firefighters went on strike for 26 days in a dispute which slipped under the national media radar.

Firefighters on a picket line

Yet the strike over changes to firefighters shifts, the removal of fire engines from four fire stations at night, the loss of 120 posts could be significant for the British fire service.

It was the first major strike in recent times not covered by soldiers riding Green Goddesses - the government insisted they were too busy in Iraq and Afghanistan - but by strike-breaking firefighters.

So in a workplace with one of the most militant unions in the country, and a bullish management the strike was as rancorous as it was significant.

John Sui, a firefighter based at Birkenhead fire station and a member of the Fire Brigades' Union (FBU), knew his choice to work would alienate him from colleagues.

"It's 18, 19 years now of being active in the union, from being a branch member at a number of stations, branch chair, watch rep, rep to brigade and I will probably be remembered for being someone that came in during the strike for the next 11 years," he said.

The whole purpose of the fire service is to be there when people need them Neil Thompson, FBU

The strike was originally called for four days, but went on for 26 as negotiations stalled.

Despite its length, the 200 or so strike-breakers - many senior managers given refresher training ahead of the strike - coped with covering for five times that number.

There were no deaths and no major incidents.

But there were hostilities. One strike-breaker brought his own food to the station so as not to antagonise pickets by being seen to shop for supplies while providing 24-hour cover.

Strikers felt harrassed when police visited picket lines.

Strike-breakers reported sabotage attempts on a fire engine ahead of the strike and silent phone calls made to those who worked.

The result was a stalemate.

Frontline posts

The FBU won a reprieve for all but one of the fire engines and the chief found £3.5m savings - over a period of time. But 114 posts will go.

The 2003 national strike led to the union securing a 16% pay increase.

But the cost was a commitment to increase the pace of modernisation with more fire prevention, firefighters tackling emergencies besides fires and greater independence for chief fire officers to decide firefighters' roles.

Merseyside's chief fire officer Tony McGuirk accepted this challenge with gusto.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service boasts firefighters who work hand-in-glove with detectives to stop the illicit fireworks trade, a specialised search and rescue team and perhaps the most comprehensive programme in the UK for tackling attacks on firefighters by youngsters.

Merseyside's FBU was largely silent until last March when the fire service, faced with a reduction in the cash from central government, chose to cut 120 frontline posts.

The resulting dispute is a microcosm of what is happening in Brigades up and down the country.

The FBU on Merseyside is not opposed to modernisation but not at the cost of jobs or a "reactive" fire service of men and women ready to be called out to fires when they occur.

Firefighters at a rally

But the nature of fire risk is changing.

When Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service embarked on the country's biggest ever programme of smoke alarm installation in 1999, there were 20 fire deaths in the area that year.

Last year, it was five.

And chiefs like Mr McGuirk believe because risks to life have changed, so the service must change.

Union stalwarts like Neil Thompson, a Merseyside firefighter and regional FBU official, see it differently, "The whole purpose of the fire service is to be there when people need them.

"We react to situations when they happen all the time. We're like an insurance policy."

What is easier to predict is that similar disputes will break out elsewhere.

And, as in Merseyside, there is no likelihood of army cover to solve the frontline firefighters' central dilemma - to strike or serve the public.

From front line to picket line: A year with Merseyside's firefighters is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 15 February and Thursday 22 February at 2000 GMT.