After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
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‘There’s criminal complacency about the attitude to fire’
Fire Brigades Union leader MATT WRACK talks to the Star about the Grenfell inquiry, the firefighters’ pay freeze and the changing role of technology
Matt Wrack speaks at a protest in Westminster, London demanding answers over the Grenfell Tower disaster
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FIREFIGHTERS have been fighting more than just fires over the last 100 years. As the legendary Fire Brigades Union (FBU), which represents one of the most unionised workforces in the country, celebrates its centenary year, the Morning Star caught up with the union’s leader Matt Wrack at its annual conference in Brighton to see what he thinks the big fights of the next 100 years will be.
A lot has been achieved by the FBU since the union formed on October 1 1918. Back then firefighters didn’t get holiday or sick pay and lived on fire stations like “municipal slaves” in what was known as the continuous duty system. This meant firefighters were on duty all the time, with just one day off each week.
They would be expected to clean the chief fire officer’s toilet and even be disallowed the right to sleep with their own wives before a shift.
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The FBU general secretary, currently running for another term, speaks to Ben Chacko about what's needed to reverse 14 years of cuts – and decades of neoliberal deregulation