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ACTIVISTS WERE fighting to stave off surrender at a special conference of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) on Thursday of this week as Socialist Worker went to press. The FBU executive and general secretary Andy Gilchrist have gone flat out over the last few weeks to persuade firefighters and control staff to accept an awful deal to end their long-running pay dispute.

BULLYING JOHN Prescott finally got leaders of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) to accept an appalling deal for their 52,000 members on Tuesday. FBU general secretary Andy Gilchrist accepts it will mean job losses, but is recommending it is accepted at a special union conference.

"WE'VE NOW got to go out and win a resounding vote against this deal on the stations, and then at the recalled conference." With those words Paul Embury from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) at Islington station, north London, summed up the feeling of many hundreds of activists in the union.

IN A move Margaret Thatcher would be proud of, deputy prime minister John Prescott is closer to imposing a package of cuts and pathetic pay rises on firefighters and control room staff.

THE EXECUTIVE of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) was to meet this week in the wake of John Prescott taking a further step towards imposing a deal on firefighters and control staff. "There is immense anger at Prescott," says Albie Lythgoe from the FBU on Merseyside. "Our brigade has voted to continue to fight by calling more strikes. We are prepared to walk out if Prescott imposes - that's whether the national union calls us out or not. Merseyside is saying no to the Burchill proposals, which our national executive has argued are a basis for settling the dispute. Burchill opens the door to the employers' so called modernisation drive. We should be getting back to a straight fight over p

LARGELY LABOUR-led local government employers are urging fire chiefs to rip up firefighters' conditions in anticipation of a general offensive if the government beats the Fire Brigades Union (FBU). The Local Government Association has told fire authorities to start implementing those parts of the Bain cuts package that do not require new legislation.

THE NEW Labour government hopes to stick the boot into firefighters and control room staff following the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) conference on Tuesday of this week. Union leaders drove a terrible, demoralising retreat through the conference. The offensive and vibrant pay campaign of last year has become a scramble to stave off capitulation to the employers and the government.

ACTIVISTS IN the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) met in Birmingham on Wednesday of this week to prepare for a planned recalled conference next Tuesday. But the FBU executive was to meet later this week to consider calling off the conference and seeking yet more tiny changes to the terrible deal the employers have offered.

THE RECALLED conference of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) in Brighton on Wednesday of last week overwhelmingly threw out a last minute offer from the employers. In doing so, firefighters stood up to the government and the media. The 241 conference delegates, representing 52,000 union members, also overturned their general secretary, Andy Gilchrist, and the majority of the FBU executive. The executive had recommended accepting the offer. There was loud applause and cheering when it was voted down.

THE TORIES and the government are using the cover of war to launch an attack on the firefighters which threatens the freedom of every worker in Britain. Tory defence spokesperson Bernard Jenkins, government ministers and the media are attempting to witch-hunt the Fire Brigades Union (FBU).

THE FIRE dispute is back on after four weeks of talks produced the worst offer yet from the employers and the government. There is pressure from firefighters for more strikes. There are also threats from deputy prime minister John Prescott to use Tory anti-union laws and the cover of war to ban action.

THE government's vendetta against the firefighters was poised to come to a head at the end of this week. Labour ministers told fire authority employers to table demands for swingeing cuts and worse working conditions on Thursday after weeks of talks with the Fire Brigades Union (FBU).