Nu-Labour really are the pits, they have started using Stalinist methods to get their way, packing meetings to get the right decision.



02 August 2004
Government packs fire bosses meeting with London councillors to wreck deal reached last week then walk and refuse to meet for six weeks

THE FIRE BRIGADES UNION

… PRESS RELEASE … PRESS RELEASE … PRESS RELEASE …. PRESS RELEASE …

The Government packed a key meeting today with councillors from London Labour Party instructed to wreck a pay deal reached last week. None of these London councilors had ever sat on a fire authority and were acting on Labour party instructions.

The employers voted 13-10 against signing up to a deal they had agreed only last week. If the councillors not entitled to vote had been excluded, the deal would have been agreed in a 10-6 majority on the employers' side.

So many councilors turned up that most did not know each other and there was limited space for the union representatives at the joint meeting. Additional seating had been brought in. During an adjournment the employers walked out. They are refusing to meet for another 6 weeks. Moves to wreck the deal were put in place by Nick Raynsford. He threatened councillors by warning he would continue to withhold £30 million of transitional funding if they reached any deal. In over 110 hours of talks in the last few weeks a deal was reached – backed by the union – which included agreement on new disciplinary and grievance procedures. The talks had concluded successfully last week and there was no hint of a problem signalled to the union. The talks ended last week Thursday, a day early, with agreement reached. The only sticking point – Stand Down time –had been resolved by both sides last Tuesday. The union had agreed to a form of words, proposed by the employers, which they rejected today. No problems were raised between then and the talks today. FBU Assistant General Secretary Mike Fordham said: “I am stunned and angry. We had 14 days of detailed daily talks and reached agreements which the union honoured this morning. A clear agreement was reached. A Government inspired wrecking crew from London has been sent in to destroy this deal and they have done it.

“Nick Raynsford has stepped in behind the scenes to wreck this deal. He does not want agreement on any terms, he only wants confrontation. He threatened to withdraw the £30 million transitional funding if a deal was reached. He has bullied these councilors into adopting a position many of them are disgusted with. All this was happening when we were in talks to try and reach agreement. He has deceived us, the TUC and the councillors who were present. He is driven by vindictiveness, the vilest of motives. We reached a deal with honourable and decent people. This deal has been wrecked by dishonourable and deceitful people lurking in Labour's political shadowland. Our ballot process starts tomorrow. The public will be disgusted at the deceit and dishonesty shown by Government and the councilors who bowed to Raynsford's bullying. They tried a series of wrecking tactics including refusing to back date payments, tried to cancel the meeting then tried to remove councillors from the meeting to void any decision. The public will get a barrelful of lies to justify this. But if they want to know who started this dispute the answer is simple: Nick Raynsford and the London Labour Party.”

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