Forthcoming events

Every Saturday - Noon - 2pm - Bedford Square, Exeter - Socialist Party stall - Campaigning and there for discussion. We also have a range of literature ranging from this weeks 'The Socialist' to this month's 'Socialism Today', as well as books on Marxism, history, science, and international issues.

Every Tuesday - 7.30pm - Exeter branch meeting - email us for venue details - Organisational matters and planning ahead as well as discussion and debate.

Monday 19th January - Friday 13th February - USDAW Presidential election - Socialist Party member Robbie Segal is standing, and campaigning for a campaigning, democratic union. See www.robbiesegal.org for more details.

Tuesday 10th February - 7.00pm - North Devon Socialist Party branch meeting - G2 room, Barnstaple Library - Discussion of organisational issues, and debate on Darwin and evolution, introduced by JL.

Wednesday 11th February - 7.00pm - Fight For Jobs public meeting - Exeter Community Centre, St Davids Hill, Exeter - Called by Devon Socialist Party and Exeter Socialist Students, this meeting will be a chance to discuss the current economic crisis and how workers and youth can organise to protect jobs and living standards.

A more extensive calendar of events over 2009 will follow at the bottom of the page.

Thursday 10 January 2008

We say 'no' to the divide and rule tactics of Devon and Somerset Fire Authority

At the recent meeting in Ilfracombe held by campaigners looking to stop the attempt by Devon and Somerset Fire Authority to remove full-time manning from four stations in Devon (Ilfracombe, Exmouth, Paignton and Plympton), FBU secretary Trevor French condemned attempts by the Authority to set "one station against another as a means of being able to divide and conquer."

He is spot on, as is the FBU approach to this problem, and the problem of the previous proposals to remove dedicated crews from aerial platforms in several towns, a measure that was defeated. The proposal as a whole needs to be defeated as a concept, not just as the right concept but in the wrong towns. It is an absolute matter of public safety that all areas the size of Ilfracombe need full-time crews. Even the Chief Fire Officer admitted as much when he conceded that simply maintaining a retained crew would increase response times.

The aerial platform cuts were wrong, these staffing cuts are wrong. They are wrong everywhere, not just Ilfracombe, not just Devon. Unfortunately, Rodney Cann, a member of the Fire Authority and Tory county councillor for Fremington in North Devon, said that the aerial platform cuts should be looked at again rather than the staffing cuts. Others at the meeting agreed. However, the reason we and the FBU opposed those cuts was public safety as well. Only a few months ago a large fire in Ilfracombe needed a quick response from the aerial platform in Barnstaple.

We must demand no cuts, no exceptions. The FBU are of the same mind. They are aware of the safety implications far more than opportunistic Tories looking to get on a bandwagon while passing cuts. A curious argument for the front-line cuts by Trevor Stratford, the assistant Chief Fire Officer was that 90% of the budget for Ilfracombe goes on front-line services (i.e. equipment and staff) - in other words, it is already cut to the bone, so lets cut into the bone.

We demand:

A fully funded and well staffed and equipped fire service where the priority is public safety not budget cuts. There is plenty of money for the shareholders of privatised public services, nuclear weapons and war, we demand it is spent on essential public services.

A public fire service, with no place for private profit.

Wages and conditions of service for firefighters and other important staff, that they deserve - much better.

Sunday 6 January 2008