Tens of Thousands March in Support of the Fire Service Workers

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Tens of Thousands March in Support of the Fire Service Workers

Turkey:
Thousands of Demonstrators Declare "No to War"

More than 20,000 people marched through the streets of London on Saturday, December 7, to support the fire fighters and control room staff in their struggle for an increase in their pay to reflect the value of their work.

Despite freezing conditions, the march swelled with thousands of fire fighters, control room staff, their families, and other workers from the public and private sector. The march and rally were colourful, noisy, optimistic and successful. It was the largest TUC organised rally since demonstrations more than a decade ago against pit closures. Blowing klaxons and whistles, waving flags and placards, and accompanied by a Scots pipe band, the demonstrators made their way from the Embankment to Hyde Park, shouting slogans like "30k because we're worth it" and "Stop the war! Pay the firefighters". The breadth of support for the fire service workers was reflected in the range of union banners on the march, with banners from Unison, ASLEF, NATFHE, NUT and many others.

Andy Gilchrist, General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, was at the head of the march to Hyde Park, along with other FBU leaders. Andy Gilchrist, who was on the march with his wife and two children, said the turnout demonstrated the massive support for the fire fighters from throughout the Labour and trade union movement.

"It is clear there is considerable support for our dispute and it is absolutely overwhelming," he said. "This is a demonstration of the incredible amount of support we have throughout the union and Labour movement. Even on such a cold day as today many thousands of people are prepared to march alongside us."

The FBU leaders were also joined by Bill Morris, head of the Transport and General Workers Union, who declared his support for the pay dispute.

The rally in Hyde Park which followed the march was addressed by John Monks of the TUC, Dave Prentis of Unison, Ruth Winters the FBU President, Nigel DeGruchy, President of the TUC and Andy Gilchrist.

John Monks declared the support of the TUC for the struggle of the fire service workers and stated that the TUC would continue to support them as it has done since the outset of the dispute.

Dave Prentis proclaimed his union's support for the struggle of the FBU and pointed out that the general rise of industrial action in the public services reflected the resentment of the workers in these services that their work was not properly valued. With regard to the government's demand that its modernisation agenda must be implemented in the fire service, he declared: "Workers will never sell jobs down the river and will not sit back and allow fire fighting jobs, fire engines and fire stations to go. That is not modernisation; it's decimation."

Ruth Winters on behalf of the FBU thanked the trade union movement for its support and condemned the government for ignoring the "damn good job" which the fire service workers are doing. She pointed out that when government ministers were awarded a 40% pay rise, no jobs were cut in parliament. In particular she condemned the "disgraceful" treatment that the union's general secretary and his family have been subjected to at the hands of the media.

Nigel DeGruchy The Sun and The Daily Mail, which he described as "pillars of poison" for conducting a campaign of attacks on the fire service workers. He also raised the question as to why the government's definition of "modernisation" always means worsening of conditions for workers. He declared that this was "exploitation not modernisation".

When Andy Gilchrist rose to speak, he was greeted with rousing cheers from the fire service workers. He thanked them for their determination in waging their struggle and condemned the government for "demonising public service workers". He went on, "It was on a level I never thought I would see a Labour government stoop to."

Andy Gilchrist said that ministers' interventions to block the 16% offer that was tabled the night before the recent eight-day strike began were "shambolic, shameful and incompetent".

He challenged the media to go and talk to fire service workers and predicted that they would find no weakening in the workers' resolve to fight until they win their demands. He said that the union would do everything possible to achieve a negotiated settlement to the dispute, but if the government had the "reckless audacity" to wreck another deal, then the union would be back on strike.

Referring to the establishment media attacks on him for "being political", he declared "When politicians say that they want to get rid of 10,000 jobs, we have every right to get involved in politics!"

Women-men, young-old, workers-public sector labourers and even children gathered together at a square in the heart of Istanbul on Sunday, 1 December to prevent probable war against Iraq. The demonstration was organised by the "No to War in Iraq Co-ordination" and 140 organisations participated, which included political parties, associations and trade unions.

"We will not be US soldiers", "No to war", "Let there be no wars, Don’t let children die" were among the slogans most frequently chanted in the demonstration. The common text prepared in Kurdish, Turkish and English was also read out. The enthusiasm of the youth who formed the majority of the participants attracted a lot of attention and many anti-war folk and popular songs were sung by artists.

Suleyman Celebi, the Term Spokesman of the Labour Platform and the President of the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions (DISK), made the first speech at the rally. He stated, "Those who are coming out today and accusing and showing Iraq as a target present the real threat for humanity." Emphasising that the pretext of Iraq sheltering mass destruction weapons does not reflect the reality, Suleyman Celebi expressed that the aggressive policies carried out by the US were also the cause of the death of innocent people and the growth of poverty. Stating, "Every bomb will mean two separate bills," Suleyman Celebi said that one of these will be for the imperialist companies and the other for the people who will be massacred. Finishing his words with a call for the struggle of a world without wars he said, "We do not accept our children being sent off to their deaths."

Titled "Don’t your children have names?", the common text that was read out also pointed out that the losers in all wars was always humanity itself. Stating that those coming out of wars as victorious were only the oil cartels and arms dealers, the common text declared: "The entire world knows that the oil in Iraq is coveted. The US administration is fabricating excuses for its attack: Lies of bringing democracy to Iraq. It is Bush’s adviser Perle who makes such statements as, ‘We will attack even if we do not find any weapons in Iraq’."

Anti-war demonstrations are continuing around Turkey. Demonstrations and press statements were also held in Zonguldak (a province in the Black Sea of the region known for its coal mines), Corum (a province in the Central Anatolian region), Antalya (a province in the Mediterranean region) and in Eskisehir (another province close to the capital, Ankara).

In Izmir (a large province of Turkey situated in the Aegean), more than ten thousand people also rallied on December 1. A call for peace was made by all the participants; poems were recited and songs were sung by the thousands of people who gathered together to protest the probable war on Iraq. The participants were called on to remember Hiroshima and declared that they did not want any more Hiroshimas.