“Serious times for our essential public services calls for serious and experienced leadership…”
By Matt Wrack, General Secretary, FBU
The ballot for General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union closes on the 14th of January.
These are very serious times for our essential public services and for fire and rescue services across the UK. This calls for serious and experienced leadership.
Under the Tories we have faced unprecedented attacks on pay, pensions and jobs and a blitz on safety standards, including crewing levels and Chief officers, Government and employers have failed to address the long term health threat from fire contaminants and other hazards. But we have stood together, fought back and resisted. We now need to be ready for the new challenges brought by a new government at Westminster.
To deliver improvements requires experienced leadership taking forward a political and industrial strategy that delivers positive results for our members.
By standing together we fought back securing pay increases amounting to 16% over the last three years, defeating the government over pensions and stopping attempts at fire and rehire.
By remaining united through the toughest of times we have delivered real and lasting improvements for firefighters in stations and controlrooms across the country.
On each occasion FBU members have been balloted we have smashed anti-union ballot thresholds by a huge majority, that is real unity in action.
This is not the time to gamble with your future. It is time for experienced and determined leadership with a proven track record in delivering gains for FBU members. It is an honour to be General Secretary of this great union.
If elected I pledge to:
- Demand an end to cuts to the fire and rescue service
- Continue to campaign for investment to deliver a service fit for the times we live in
- Build on the success of our pay campaign to increase the income of all FBU members
- Campaign to further improve the pay and conditions of Retained Duty staff
- Pressure employers to ensure all recommendations from the Decon research are implemented
- Call on employers and government to deliver new national training standards, safe crewing levels and response times and fire stations and workplaces that are fit for purpose
I urge all FBU members to cast their ballot for me, Matt Wrack, so we can redouble our efforts to deliver progress for all FBU members.
- Matt Wrack is the General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union. You can follow him on Twitter/X, and can follow the FBU on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram.
