'Tories clapped for us during the pandemic, now they're threatening to sack us'
The decision to go on strike is not a decision anybody takes lightly, let alone key workers.
We’d much rather get on with our jobs keeping people safe, teaching our children, and looking after patients.
But recently we’ve been left with no option but to take strike action – not only to win a fair pay rise but to protect our vital public services.
I’m a firefighter. When myself and my colleagues voted for strike action earlier this year, it was a last resort. We had spent months trying to negotiate with our employers.
It was only when there was the threat of strike action that they finally listened to us. They took their insulting pay offer off the table and came back with one that meant we could get by in this cost of living crisis and put food on the table for our families.
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The Tories are trying to stop frontline workers like myself from being able to stand up for ourselves, our service, and win a fair deal at work.
Ben Curson, an FBU member, works as a firefighter in NottinghamThe Conservative government’s Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill is back in Parliament today.
If it goes through, key workers like me, and those in education, health, transport and other key sectors – who lawfully voted to strike – could be forced to attend work.
And if we don’t go into work, we face the sack.
It's a disgrace. Government ministers clapped for us during the pandemic. Now those same ministers are threatening us with the sack if we refuse to work during lawful strikes.
At my fire station, I hear from colleagues every day that they’re thinking about quitting. It’s the same story in our hospitals and schools, where we’re losing workers in their droves.
Without the ability to take action to defend our pay and conditions, things will only get worse.
We are burned out with heavy workloads. In the fire service, more than 11,500 frontline firefighter jobs have been cut by the government since 2010.
Like other key workers, we’ve suffered pay cuts over the last decade. Many of us are simply not being paid enough to live on.
With inflation still running at over 10%, the last thing exhausted workers need is for ministers to threaten us with the sack.
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It’s time for ministers to protect the right to strike and ditch this unfair bill for good.
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