There’s been a few questions in our social media discussions.
The first one is the big one – why am I running? There’s a simple answer to that. I think we can do better, and the key to that is having an industrial strategy. The FBEU has not taken strike action in almost a decade, and as a result our muscle is eroding. Current SCoM officials should not take this personally. I recognise how hard you all work because I’ve done it before. But I disagree with the strategy, and want to give members an alternative to vote for.
A number of retained comrades have asked what we will be doing for them. Short answer – if we’re elected our priority for the first twelve months will be wages, for both permanent and retained. Past that there are a stack of different projects and improvements we could work on, and I hope I get the opportunity to do just that, but in the short term it’s the dollars, and rebuilding our capacity to fight.
One member asked asked about the vaccine mandates, and what we would have done differently. I thought a lot about this when the pandemic was on, and was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the FBEU providing no leadership on this at all. The majority of members supported the mandate, but a sizable minority didn’t. A way forward would have been to run a general meeting (remember them?) asking if members supported the vaccine mandate. If the answer was yes, the Union should have also taken a position that any member who was not vaccinated would be on leave without pay until such time as the mandate was lifted, or they became vaccinated. This solution would not have been perfect, but it would have stopped the unedifying drama of trying to get the unvaccinated back to work once the situation had changed.
Finally a few questions about my politics. I’ve run for parliament twice. I will not be doing it again, for a variety of both personal and political reasons. But I don’t think it is anything to be ashamed about. If I had been elected I think I would have been an effective advocate for working people generally, and firefighters specifically. Other FBEU members have run for parliament, and all would have been an asset for people like us if he’d got up. Having firefighter unionists in parliament would be a good thing – I hope we all agree on that. When I ran I did not seek any financial support from our Union, but was very grateful to the members who did volunteer their time to support me.
Jim Casey
Candidate for FBEU President
Wilmott-Casey 24 