Source: PSA
The PSA and the NZ Professional Firefighters Union have filed an urgent application with the Employment Relations Authority arguing FENZ has breached its collective agreement by failing to consult before announcing proposed job cuts.
“These proposed cuts pose a serious threat to public safety at a time of escalating climate-driven emergencies and must be put on hold before lasting damage is done to FENZ’s ability to respond to emergencies,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi. “We are aiming to stop these dangerous job losses.
“FENZ has clear obligations in the collective agreements to consult both the PSA and NZPFU about proposed changes that impact its members – not just their consequences. FENZ only provided an embargoed copy of its proposal to the PSA the day before announcing it to staff.
“The PSA made several attempts between being advised about the restructure on 29 October and 12 November to be consulted, it’s simply not good enough.”
The NZ Professional Firefighters Union said the cuts would impact fire response. NZPFU National Secretary Wattie Watson said; “The workers who face losing their jobs are all critical to ensuring firefighters access the training and support they need to respond to emergencies properly trained and resourced.
“We are deeply concerned about the impacts on our members that are evident in the proposal but also the unseen implications which we believe may be an attack on the necessary increase in career firefighters and decimating training.
“FENZ is not being transparent on the savings that are far more wide reaching than the immediate savings from job losses. FENZ is also unilaterally deciding to reverse parts of a restructure in 2020 that put community resilience and risk reduction roles in place without first engaging with those that do the work to see if any changes need to be made, and if so why and how.”
The PSA and NZPFU are asking the Employment Relations Authority to determine FENZ has breached the collective agreement, has failed to negotiate in good faith as required by law and issue a compliance order stopping any decisions being implemented to allow proper consultation to take place.
Fleur Fitzsimons said; “Workers at FENZ were given a 265-page consultation document and told to provide feedback within two weeks – that’s not genuine consultation, it’s a box-ticking exercise.
“We’re seeking an urgent hearing because FENZ intends to confirm its decisions on 17 December, just before Christmas, leaving many workers and their families facing a bleak holiday period with their jobs on the line.
“The recent Tongariro wildfire was a stark reminder of the need to have a well resourced fire and emergency response. The Government refused to increase insurance levies last year so the buck stops with them. It must step in, stop the cuts and properly fund critical emergency services.”
Background
The proposed restructure would cut more than 10% of non-firefighting staff, disestablish all five regional staff teams and close some regional offices and shave 10% off FENZ’s annual budget. Impacted roles include wildfire specialists, desktop and network engineers, project managers, business analysts, learning operations coordinators and team leaders, procurement/sourcing specialists, risk reduction advisors, community readiness and recovery advisors, business service coordinators.
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