COLUMN Overseas Briefing

Author: Devin Zatorski

EDINBURGH -- One of the military's vintage "Green Goddess" fire engines lumbered down the road yesterday. The clang of its motor elicited jeers from passers-by, who recalled the news of how another military "Goddess" had conked out on a crowded Glasgow street just days before.
Meanwhile, the city's state-of-the-art engines sat idle, the casualties of a fresh pay dispute between the Fire Brigade Union and the United Kingdom government. An eight-day strike that ended last Saturday affected fire services from London to Edinburgh to the far reaches of the Scottish Highlands.
The union has promised more walkouts if the government does not cave to their demand for a 40 percent wage hike. The stakes -- and the political tension -- could not be higher.
The military stepped in to answer emergency calls. But as negotiations continue to falter, nationwide fears intensify over whether untrained military servicemen -- armed only with their ageing "Goddesses" -- can ensure public safety.
The government offered fire fighters an 11.6 percent pay raise. The union declined. Now they have upped the ante to 16 percent, paired with modernised working conditions. And the union said no again.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had long stayed on the periphery of the conflict, finally broke his silence last Tuesday.
"This is a battle the union can not win," he said on the floor of Parliament. He cautioned that yielding to pressure from the fire brigades would draw out similar demands from teachers, nurses and others on the government payroll. It would be a fast route to undoing the record-low levels of inflation the country has enjoyed.
The strike is also entwined with the current military escalation in Iraq. Instead of preparing for potential combat, soldiers find themselves behind the wheel of "Green Goddess" fire engines, contending with numerous blazes and even more hoax phone calls.
On the University of Edinburgh campus, the episode has conjured up a vocabulary usually reserved for terrorism.
The Office of Accommodation Services, for example, posted signs advising "heightened vigilance and awareness of your surroundings." Even the fitness center manager felt compelled to warn students about the strike. He pinned notices to the door requesting that students report any "unusual activity or fire hazards" to the reception desk staff.
Once again, we are cast as the generation of heightened awareness.