Left Foot Forward spoke to Ben Selby at the TUC's 2022 congress

Within the trade union movement, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has a reputation for being a leading voice for action on the climate crisis. The union has been central to efforts to strengthen the Labour Party’s climate policies and has actively pushed the party to adopt a more radical approach.

The FBU’s vice president Ben Selby is clear about what that approach should be. “What we want is a socialist Green New Deal that includes public ownership”, he tells Left Foot Forward at the TUC’s annual congress in Brighton.

Trade unions like the FBU are key to both designing and delivering that Green New Deal and in tackling the climate crisis according to Selby. He says, “I think they have a huge role. I think they not only have a role in how we combat the crisis, they have a role in designing how that looks after we’ve managed to hopefully change certain parts of industry to be greener, [to] help protect the environment.” He adds that this issue is particularly important for the FBU, because, “we’ve got some skin in the game when it comes to climate. Ultimately, it’s our members that die at the hands of climate emergencies.”

While unions like the FBU have been at the forefront of proposals for a ‘just transition’ to a green economy, others have been slower to move. Recently, Gary Smith of the GMB union said that the Labour movement, “should not get caught up in a bourgeois environmental debate driven by the bourgeois environmental lobby”. Selby strikes a stark contrast with this. He says, “We’re not going to behave like some trade unions have and make suggestions that this is some sort of middle class” issue, and says that having the FBU’s voice seeming to be “ignored by some parts of the movement is – I think – quite disrespectful”. Selby calls for those unions that represent workers in polluting industries to be ‘part of the discussion’ on a just transition. He says, “rather than hold the line that we need more oil, we need more gas, we need more fracking in some cases – they should be part of the discussion about how we just transition. And my view on it personally is that I want to encourage them to take part in those discussions and design how we would transition to a more greener economy”.

Selby also spoke to Left Foot Forward about the ongoing firefighters’ dispute. Employers have made an improved pay offer of 5 per cent to the FBU, but the union is recommending to members that this offer is rejected. Selby says, “Firefighters have been falling behind for the past 12 years. And this year when we set about our pay demand, we said this year should look to readdress the 14 per cent real terms pay cut firefighters have had over the last 12 years. And when we said that, and then also we said we need to be cognizant of where the economy is currently. At the time, just prior to the summer, I think inflation was just 7 per cent. Now, we knew it was going up. I don’t think anyone realised the extent it would spiral.

“Now the new offer of 5 per cent has been made, we’ll understand that in the context we’re in today, not where we were in June. Today, inflation is at 10 per cent. We’ve seen food costs have gone up by almost 15 per cent. People coming out of their fixed terms mortgages after Truss crashed the economy, are facing real, stark choices in relation to what they do with their mortgages and their homes. And we’re aware firefighters are using – up and down the country – are using food banks, and some, heat banks and making difficult choices. Do they sell their homes to manage through this difficult financial time? For those reasons, we recommended that members rejected the offer.”

Selby says that it’s likely that members will “overwhelmingly reject” the pay offer. If the FBU’s consultation with members shows a desire to reject the offer, the union will move to ballot for strike action.

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward

Left Foot Forward’s trade union coverage is supported by the Barry Amiel & Norman Melburn Trust

Image credit: Socialist Appeal – Creative Commons

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