Off the Wall



I find it rather refreshing that the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) in Scotland has a leading figure who is someone other than a dreary, left wing, Labour hack.

Because the trade union movement is stuffed to the rafters with Labour Party hacks which is not very representative of the wider membership, of course.

Now, speaking personally, I wouldn't cross the road for a 'political honour' from Her Majesty the Queen, but I know that many colleagues from the trade union movement have done just that over the years including some of my former chums from Unison.

The UK leadership of the union seems to be incensed that the FBU in Scotland is making its own decisions, which is exactly what I experienced as Unison's Head of Local Government in Scotland, in 1997, when the Scottish local government trade unions agreed to withdraw from the UK bargaining machinery by setting up our own independent arrangements in Scotland. 

But that move was opposed by people using the very same arguments as Matt Wrack who would like to centralise power and decision making at UK level, which was none too democratic if you ask me.  

I liked Paul Holleran's comment about the FBU being 'off the wall' because sometimes you have just go to call a spade a spade.


Revealed: cross-border war rips Fire Brigades Union apart

THE Fire Brigades Union is embroiled in a civil war after its general secretary Matt Wrack was revealed to have repeatedly attacked his top Scottish official.
Firefighters in Scotland won concessions from the SNP Government over pensions and agreed to shelve  strike actionPhotograph: Nick Ponty
Firefighters in Scotland won concessions from the SNP Government over pensions and agreed to shelve strike actionPhotograph: Nick Ponty
The FBU boss bad-mouthed his own Scottish secretary John Duffy - who is currently facing a leadership challenge - and tried to stop another colleague from speaking to the press.
Wrack was told he had an "obsession" with Duffy and was warned his behaviour towards another Scottish official was becoming "tantamount to bullying and harassment".
The damaging row can be traced to last year's decision by the firefighters union to strike against the UK Government's pension cuts.
However, the administration of pensions is devolved to Holyrood and the union's Scottish office won concessions from the SNP Government.
Union members in Scotland accepted the revised offer and agreed to shelve strike action.
It is understood Scotland's no-strike position angered Wrack, who wanted a UK-wide stance.
Duffy, a member of the SNP, has now been challenged for his job and the result of the contest is expected on Wednesday.
Emails obtained by this newspaper reveal the full extent of Wrack's sniping at the FBU leadership in Scotland - comprising Duffy and Roddy Robertson - and the pressure he has tried to exert.
In July, Wrack was incensed that the FBU in Scotland published a letter relating to the union's distinctive position on the pensions dispute.
In an email to Robertson, he wrote: "It is once again disappointing that you have acted on a pensions matter without even discussing it with me or with the national officer."
On Duffy saying that Scottish union members could get "dragged into" an overtime ban, Wrack said: "John seems to have forgotten that the Fire Brigades Union decided this campaign at a national conference and in two national ballots.
"Members in Scotland have not been 'dragged into' anything - they VOTED for industrial action."
He added: "I therefore must insist that no further comments are made to the press on the union's pension campaign without discussing it with us.
"If that means questions should be referred to Head Office - that would be preferable to the error which was made in these comments."
However, Robertson shot back: "The only one creating confusion in the membership in Scotland is you … I suggest that you take a step back as this is becoming tantamount to bullying and harassment."
Months earlier, after Scottish members agreed to shelve strike action, Wrack showed his frustration with what he called Duffy's "social partnership" approach.
In an email to Robertson, he wrote: "Social partnership weakness [sic] workers and their organisations and leads to trade union officials ending up putting forward the case for employers."
He added: "I think we need to change course as a matter of urgency."
He also blasted Duffy for accepting an OBE, saying: "I have to say I find it a huge embarrassment that an official of this union took such an honour from the British establishment at a time when we are facing the worst cuts and attacks in history."
Robertson responded: "Your obsession with John is unhealthy and clouds your judgement."
He added: "If you think that standing outside and doing our negotiations by press release is the best way forward then I will review my thinking."
Robertson concluded: "As for John getting an award, get over it."
Paul Holleran, Scottish organiser of the National Union of Journalists, said Wrack criticised the FBU officials in Scotland at an STUC fringe meeting earlier this year.
"Matt Wrack spoke about how both governments were as bad as each other. I told him the Scottish Government had tried to take a different position," said Holleran.
"At the end of the meeting, he said the problem was that his officials in Scotland were more interested in independence than standing up for their members. I told him I knew these guys well and that his [Wrack's] view was off the wall."
Duffy is being challenged for the Scottish secretary post by fellow FBU official Stephen Thomson.
The FBU has around 40,000 members across the UK.
Robertson told the Sunday Herald: "I have been chastised on more than one occasion by my general secretary about telling the members what the up-to-date position was with our negotiation in Scotland and have requested numerous times that our head office include information for the Scottish membership.
"It would appear, however, that some are happy to create a vacuum and allow those who are wishing to challenge John Duffy and myself all the space to attack us."
A spokesman for the FBU said: "Our democratically elected conference has set out our policy and approach to campaigning to defend the pensions of firefighters all across the UK. This is the policy which is implemented by the union's leadership.
"As in all organisations, there is discussion and debate in the FBU. The union and its members are united in fighting to defend our fire and rescue service against cuts, which threaten the safety of the public and of firefighters.

Union Politics (26 April 2014)




Here's a remarkable news story from Scotland on Sunday reports that the leader of the Scottish Fire Brigades Union, John Duffy, is facing criticism for being a member of the SNP and for having too close a relationship with Government Ministers.

Now the people voicing these criticisms are not identified their words are quoted anonymously, but I think it's a good thing that a leading figure within the FBU is not another boring Labour hack - not least because lots of FBU members must support the SNP.

And if you look elsewhere in the Scotland's trade union movement, card carrying Labour Party supporters completely dominate the scene which is not a good advert democracy if you believe, like me, that trade unions ought to reflect the broad composition of the members they claim to represent. 

So it's clear to me that part of the problem in persuading employers to face up to their obligations in terms of equal pay, lay in the fact that too many Labour supporting unions leaders were far too close to the big Labour councils which dominated Scottish local government until 2007.

And instead of standing up for the interests of their lowest paid members, largely women of course, the Labour dominated trade unions simply turned a blind eye to the 1999 Single Status (Equal Pay) Agreement which was supposed to deliver equal pay for work of equal value 15 years ago.  

The fight continues to this day, of course, yet the trade unions have pushed aside in many areas of Scotland because they really were far too chummy with the council employers for far too long.     

Firefighters’ union chief John Duffy faces ousting
Duffy is a member of the SNP and is on the party's candidate list. Picture: Contributed

By ANDREW WHITAKER - Scotland on Sunday

THE head of the Scottish Fire Brigades Union is facing moves to oust him over concerns among firefighters that his leadership has an “incestuous partnership” with SNP ministers.

FBU Scottish secretary John Duffy, who is a member of the SNP, is expected to face a challenge to his leadership in the coming weeks.

Some union members want to remove him after he brokered a deal with the Scottish Government that meant firefighters in Scotland did not join their colleagues in England and Wales in a strike over pensions.

Duffy – who is on the SNP’s list of approved Holyrood candidates – has been accused of being too close to SNP ministers and of being a “soft touch” on challenging issues, including the government’s contentious decision to merge Scotland’s eight regional fire services into one force.

The UK’s FBU general secretary Matt Wrack is understood to be unhappy about the failure to strike in Scotland and Duffy’s leadership.

A senior Scottish FBU member said there is a widespread view among Scottish firefighters that SNP ministers view it as being “good for the government to have a senior union ­officer in place who supports independence”.

The source said that given the “current disquiet” with Duffy’s leadership that it was “inconceivable that there won’t be a challenge” to the union boss after nominations for the Scottish FBU secretary’s post formally opened at the end of last week.

Scotland on Sunday has learned that challengers to Duffy could include Denise Christie, an experienced firefighter in the Lothians, who is now a full-time FBU official and who has also served as the women’s representative on the union’s ruling UK body.

Another possible challenger is Stephen Thomson, who is a full-time FBU official in ­Glasgow. Both Christie and Thomson are known to be critical of the leadership’s perceived closeness to the Scottish government.

Duffy’s leadership has also been criticised on fbuscotland watch – a web page for FBU members – for failing to ­oppose the government’s creation of a single service, which saw the number of fire control rooms reduced from eight to three.

A union member said: “Here we have a union leadership in Scotland, who have engaged in an incestuous partnership with the SNP government, which has seen them being complicit in the loss of uniformed frontline jobs, the loss of five control rooms, the implementation of new detrimental duty systems – with further cuts to firefighter jobs and pay just round the corner.

“They have utilised their positions in the union to accommodate and immerse themselves in their own political agendas with the SNP.”

About 4,500 Scottish FBU members will be eligible to vote in the union’s leadership election expected in early June.

Duffy, who is a senior member of the SNP trade union group, agreed a deal that saw Scotland avoid strikes affecting the rest of the UK because of a separate deal offered to the Scottish FBU by Holyrood.

FBU members had voted for a strike, although this was postponed when SNP ministers offered to mitigate the UK government proposals to ­increase firefighters’ retirement age from 55 to 60.

However, some firefighters in Scotland claim there was no “one member, one vote” ballot on cancelling the strike, with the leadership just holding a consultative ballot of FBU branches.

Firefighters south of the Border staged strike action last year after UK ministers and the Welsh administration refused to scrap proposals that would see firefighters who opt to ­retire at 55 facing a cut to their pension of 5 per cent a year.

Last night, Duffy insisted that the electoral challenge he is facing “underpins the ­democracy of a trade union” as he defended his links to the SNP.

He said: “The FBU have many friends across numerous political parties. We engage with them all, but naturally the current government has the greatest ability to act in our members benefit.”

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