Firefighters must be ready to fight ‘tooth and nail’ for their service, say the Fire Brigades Union, after the appointment of former National Fire Chief’s Council (NFCC) chair Roy Wilsher as a government advisor on forthcoming reform to fire and rescue services in England.
Wilsher, who served at the top of the government-funded NFCC for four years, has this week been officially announced as the person who would advise the Home Office ahead of a white paper, which is due later this year.
The proposals are expected to include a series of damaging attacks to the way fire and rescue services are run, with so-called ‘operational independence’ being granted to fire chiefs and firefighters facing attacks on their trade union rights, their role, and their pay.
In January, the NFCC, whilst under Wilsher’s leadership, worked closely with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate for Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services who produced a report which called for the dismantling of the Grey Book containing established firefighter terms and conditions and for the restructuring or abolition of the body that negotiates pay. The report recommended that it be replaced with a pay review body, preventing firefighters from having a union negotiate on their behalf.
The FBU says the appointment of Wilsher, who helped to oversee cuts of £140m to fire and rescue services in England between 2017 - 2021, and who has never spoken publically in favour of an increase to firefighter pay whilst chair of the NFCC, is a ‘harbinger of doom’ for the service and for firefighters who work in it.
Previously to his role at the NFCC, Wilsher was Chief Fire Officer at Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, where firefighters were forced to take strike action as he oversaw the closure of two fire stations, the loss of 40 firefighter posts, and the removal of a specialist high-reach appliance.
Responding to the appointment, FBU general secretary Matt Wrack, said:
“Roy Wilsher’s record speaks for itself: rolling over when swathing cuts were being made to our service, standing by whilst firefighters saw their pay and jobs slashed and then later working hand in hand with the inspectorate as they prepared a biased report which attacked firefighters and their union. His latest appointment as a government advisor will be seen a harbinger of doom for the service by frontline firefighters.
“We know the government’s proposals for the fire and rescue service in England will not make pleasant reading and that the pay, conditions, jobs, and the very right of firefighters to have a union negotiate their pay will all be on the table. Firefighters will have to be ready to fight tooth and nail to stop these political attacks.”
