12

Ethics and work in

emergencies: the UK

fire service strike

2002–3

Tom Sorell

Talk of employee relations has become more common than talk of IR in
HRM, but collective action organized by trade unions has not disappeared
from employment relationships. Collective action by trade unions operating
in emergency services has traditionally been regarded as morally sensitive: it
has taken on new significance throughout the West since September 11. In this
chapter, I consider ethical issues raised by the strike in 2002–3 carried out by
the UK fire services.
The strike was declared by the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) in Novem-
ber 2002. The union had asked employers for a significant pay increase for
full-time and part-time firefighters, and the government refused to fund it.
As it went on, the strike was directed against the recommendations of a
government-commissioned review chaired by Sir George Bain (2002). Bain
called for a radical restructuring of the fire service, including a reduction
in numbers employed and changed shift patterns. The strike did not leave
Britain entirely bereft of a fire and rescue service. The military was able to
provide limited cover, but with antiquated emergency vehicles and relatively
inexperienced, unsatisfactorily trained firefighters. When serious fires or car
accidents were reported, pickets from a relevant fire station sometimes went
back on duty to assist. Strike action was taken for relatively limited periods
of a day or days at a time. Although the strike was protracted, lasting until
February 2003, it passed with relatively little loss of life or serious injury.
Was the strike morally justified? This question is hard to answer properly
without broaching some of the topics considered by the Bain Report. But
there are also more general issues, to do with the demands of working in the
emergency services generally. The FBU sometimes argued that the pay and
working conditions of firefighters were reasonably viewed on the model of
those in the police service. Journalistic, academic, and trade union discussions
often speak of ‘emergency service workers’, including under that phrase not