Submitted by SWFBU on
3 September 2014
TO: ALL MEMBERS
Dear Brother/Sister
FBU ANTI-CUTS “RING OF FIRE” TOUR
We need investment not cuts for our Fire and Rescue Service
FBU members are well aware of the devastating cuts afflicting our Service. We face the worst period in our history for cutbacks, closures of fire stations, cutting of fire engines and loss of firefighter jobs. Along with other public sector workers, our pay has been hit – meaning falling standards of living. And of course, the Government is trying to steal our pension rights. Behind all of these attacks lies the central issue of funding. It is the reduction of Government funding for our Service which is forcing through all these attacks on our Service, our profession and our conditions.
As a result the Executive Council, working with our Regions, is organising a series of events around the country to highlight the scale of these attacks and the threat they pose to firefighters and to the public. These events will also launch and publicise the new FBU report – Sounding the Alarm: the Future of the Fire and Rescue Service. This report highlights the fact that funding for the Service has been cut by more than 20% during this parliament; that 5,000 frontline firefighter jobs have been cut; and that 999 emergency response times have increased significantly.
These events will tour major towns and cities of the UK as the “Ring of Fire” tour. The tour will build on local campaigns and initiatives which are already in place in many Brigades and which many members are already involved in.
The 20 date tour, starts at the annual Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Liverpool on 9 September.
The tour dates are below:
• Tuesday 9 September – Liverpool – Outside BT Convention Centre, Kings Dock, Liverpool, L3 4FP
• Thursday 11 September – Glasgow – St Enochs Square, Glasgow, G1 4DH
• Friday 12 September – Sunderland - Market Square, Sunderland, SR1 3LH
• Saturday 13 September – Redcar - King Edward Memorial Clock, Redcar High Street, Redcar
• Monday 15 September – York – St Sampsons Square, York, YO1 8RN
• Tuesday 16 September – Leeds
• Wednesday 17 September – Mansfield
• Thursday 18 September – Leicester – Humberstone Gate, Leicester, LE1 1WB
• Friday 19 September – Birmingham
• Saturday 20 September – Worcester
• Monday 22 September – Manchester
• Tuesday 23 September – Aylesbury – Market Square, HP20 1TW
• Wednesday 24 September – Watford
• Thursday 25 September – Great Yarmouth – Market Place, Great Yarmouth, NR30 1LX
• Friday 26 September – London
• Saturday 27 September – Brighton
• Tuesday 30 September – Portsmouth – Guildhall, Portsmouth, PO1 2AB
• Wednesday 1 October – Plymouth – Armada Way, off Royal Parade, Plymouth, PL1 2HJ
• Thursday 2 October – Cardiff – Roald Dahl Plass, Oval Basin, Cardiff Bay, CF10 6AN
• Friday 3 October – Bristol – Castle Park, Broadweir, Bristol
More information will follow shortly and local Regional and Brigade Officials will be able to give advice on plans in your Brigade and Region.
General Election
The tour and the related events are part of the union’s plans to highlight the attacks on our Service in the run up to the 2015 General Election. Our campaigning over these next few months can have a major impact on the direction taken in our Service over the next few years; either endless cuts, falling standards, fragmentation and destruction of our conditions – or investment and dialogue to build a genuinely modern Fire and Rescue Service to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Please support these events in whatever way you can.
Best wishes.
Yours fraternally
MATT WRACK
GENERAL SECRETARY
