Godward was recently reinstated after being sacked during the 2002 firefighters strike for political and union activities. Socialist Resistance spoke to him at the end of February about his victory. " WAS A FIREFIGHTER for 23 years in Birmingham before I was sacked. I was a divisional official for North Birmingham Fire Brigades Union (FBU).
On the first day of strike action of the firefighters dispute on November 13 2002, 50 minutes before the start of the strike at 6pm, I was escorted from the station by management who wouldn't tell me why I was suspended. discovered the next day when it was on the front page of the Times that I'd been accused of sabotage. They literally threw me off the station.
The charges against me were that I had attempted to put sugar in the tanks of fire appliances, had called for an illegal picket, and proposed to other firefighters that we should remove critical safety equipment.
I went to a hearing with the Chief Fire Officer, Ken Knight, who is now the Chief Fire Officer in London. He dismissed me for gross misconduct. That's a charge which basically means your fingers are caught in the till, it's that cut and dried.
We put forward quite a bit of evidence to say, hang on, there should be a full investigation into this. But Knight wanted to remove me as the main militant within the West Midlands Fire Service, so he proceeded to sack me there and then.
The discipline code the firefighters work under is an Act of Parliament; the 1985 Discipline Regulations. As such I had a right received some training in disciplinaries. remove safety equipment. confirmed on February 7 to appeal to the Fire Authority. Every authority is supposedly run by its elected members who come from the three main political parties. I went to an appeal there after they had
1 attended the first two days, and then after that they cut to procedures. Two weeks later I went back, they threw out the idea that I had said anything about sugar in tanks, however they persisted with the allegations of attempting to call an illegal picket and attempting to convince my colleagues to
years.
Then I had another right to appeal to the Secretary of State for the Fire Service. It used to be the Home Office, but its been taken over by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott. We went there, and in the meantime my sacking had been finally
On February 91 was informed that Phil Hope, the Parliamentary Undersecretary of State in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, had completely overturned all the allegations against me, and my award was upheld. I'd been reinstated.
Three weeks ago I got word from the local fire service to say that they were taking further legal advice. At the end of February, four firefighters from Hampshire, also union activists who were sacked over three years ago and reininstated in the same way I was ,went to a judicial review - and won.
They said that the fire service in that case was frustrating the will of parliament. They were awarded all their back pay for three
Prescott couldn't support my sacking because the victimisation was so crass. There were two witnesses against me, both of whom have been promoted since, whereas I provided both written and verbal evidence - and there were 49 of us.
In the evidence they had for my disciplinary, there was a letter from myself to the Chief Fire Officer when I requested permission for Ken Loach to be allowed to come and film a fire appliance for the general election when I stood as a candidate for th Socialist Alliance
There were four copies of that in the fi that was presented to both the Labour a Tories who sat on the fire authority. So r political allegiances were used as evidenc against me.
There are about four or five differe areas of the country within the FBU wt have put forward the idea of disaffiliatio from the Labour Party, although And Gilchrist the union leader has already sa that there is 'no other show in town'.
But the feeling on the shopfloor is tha enough is enough. Even during the strike th FBU handed over I think £12,000 to th Labour Party, which was a real snub to th firefighters who were losing wages, and f what? Giving money to a party who wer using rightwing newspapers like the Sun t spread such malicious propaganda against us
I'd like to thank Alan Thornett, wh throughout my victimisation was giving m valuable support and experience."
page 8 of the scan
8 socla str Unions/Socialist Alliance tance March 2004 Socialist