According to the bosses, the Salford firefighters were suspended without pay after refusing to use new anti-terrorist equipment. The Fire Brigade Union responded by saying the strike arose after crew were asked to sign contracts they were unhappy with before the finalisation of a pay dispute. An FBU spokesman insisted the action was unofficial.
Official strike action is also on going. Firefighters in Norfolk and Kent have refused to answer anything but emergency calls after the breakdown of pay talks last week. Salford firefighters are also not responding to calls where the special incident response units were needed due to a breakdown in pay talks between the union and management. An FBU spokesman stated that "official action being taken since last week at local level is that we have withdrawn from all negotiations to do with the agreement reached last June." This was due to the failure of the bosses to pay the outstanding 3.5% FBU members have been owed since November.
Anarchists fully support the wildcat strikes. Such autonomous direct action and solidarity is what anarchism is all about. It also highlights problems with trade unionism. Trade unions, as currently organised, take power away from the rank and file. It is up to the union membership whether an action is official or not, not bureaucrats. We need workplace organisation from the bottom up otherwise such strike action faces the danger of being isolated. To this end anarchism argues that we need to federate strike assemblies by means of elected, mandated and recallable delegates. Only in this way, by building on the spirit of the wildcat, can a union respond to the needs and actions of its members.