Catherwood LibraryILR School

Taking an almost unheard of step for Labour Party governments, British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced yesterday that the "New Labour" cabinet of Prime Minister Tony Blair would submit to parliament a legislated settlement in the ongoing contract dispute with firefighters (see yesterday's WIT). The announcement came as members of the Fire Brigades Union began the first of two forty-eight-hour strikes scheduled for this week---the latest in a series of strikes over the refusal by the national government and local government employers to budge from their refusal to grant raises without work rule concessions decried by firefighters as unsafe. The decision by Mr. Blair's cabinet to resuscitate the 1947 Fire Services Act and use it legislate against Labour's traditional union allies has been met with outrage not only by the FBU and the Trades Union Congress, but also Labour Party members of parliament (MP's) who have promised the Blair Cabinet a major showdown in the House of Commons.