Prescott seeks new powers to break fire strike deadlock
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Your support makes all the difference.John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, made a dramatic attempt to break the deadlock in the fire dispute yesterday by announcing that emergency legislation would be introduced to run the fire service directly from Whitehall.
As the Fire Brigades Union began another 48-hour strike, Mr Prescott said he wanted the power to impose a pay and modernisation package on firefighters if no settlement was reached by May.
He also repeatedly refused to rule out the imposition of an outright ban on strikes in the fire service, outraging unions and Labour MPs. The FBU called the proposals as "bullying tactics", and Tories and Liberal Democrats said they would only serve further to inflame the dispute.
Legislation to impose pay and conditions or ban strikes altogether would be highly sensitive for a Labour government, given its dependence on union cash for party finances. But the Deputy Prime Minister said it was time to end the game of "cat and mouse" that the union was playing with public safety and money.
A short Bill will be fast-tracked through Parliament, probably becoming law by Easter, to give the Secretary of State "powers of direction" to set salaries and conditions. This would in effect restore the 1947 Fire Services Act, which was repealed in 1959.
An aide to Mr Prescott made clear the Government could impose its controversial modernisation plans with a basic pay rise of just 4 per cent. Even the independent review by Sir George Bain recommended a rise of 11 per cent over two years in return for modernisation.
But a senior Labour source said Mr Prescott privately hoped the legislation would not be needed if the dispute was settled soon.
He said the plan was aimed at buying off more hawkish cabinet ministers who wanted an outright strike ban.
Andy Gilchrist, general secretary of the FBU, said the announcement was a "desperate act by desperate people" but the union would not be provoked into an indefinite strike. "This strike is not going to crumble. Firefighters are very determined and public support is very strong," he said.
The Labour-run Scottish Executive said it might not adopt the plans. A spokesman for Jack McConnell, the First Minister, said he might take "an alternative position".
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