The Firefighters Struggle Continues

Attacks on the working-class are intensifying by the day, as an illegitimate and anti-democratic coalition government try their best to crush all opposition to their barbaric agenda of cuts — which are of course totally unnecessary if they just decided to collect the £120 billion worth of tax that their rich fat-cat friends prefer not to pay each year.

Firefighters across England and Wales were on strike for a third time this morning during a two-hour walkout in a bid to face-down the government; providing further hope to all victims of austerity nationwide, that there are increasing numbers of workers who are willing to stand up for the common good.

Talk of linking the Fire Brigades Union’s struggle to those of other unions was commonplace on the picket lines. Indeed, the firefighters are are correct that there is no doubt that a united workers fight-back will be necessary to ensure a decisive victory against an elite opposition all too ready to ignore the majority’s needs. Our so-called leaders disregard for our needs having been further highlighted by the latest revelations that 340 MP’s are getting their heating bills paid for on their second homes!

Chris from the Lancaster Road fire station in Leicester was just one of many who suggested the need for a 24-hour general strike. Speaking to the Socialist Party this morning he said:

“We’ve been forced into a corner: we don’t want to go out on strike, but its a tool we can exercise, and we have absolutely every right to exercise that at the moment. But unfortunately, along with the police, the nurses, the teachers, and any other local government public sector department, we are being tackled and taken on for what the bankers did in 2008 and its beginning to wear a little bit thin. We’ve been trying to avoid this for the last three years with negotiations and, you know, its just the bully-boy tactics of the government, who are just not interested. … We can be defiant and fight it and that’s all we can do and all we intend to do.”

For an earlier report and video outlining the full attacks on the firefighters, see “Firefighters on Strike: Report from the Picket Line.”