Source: PSA
Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s decision to postpone its restructure pending a second Employment Relations Authority ruling is a responsible step, but the PSA is clear: these cuts should never go ahead.
FENZ has just announced the delay in making decisions on their proposed restructure because a determination from the ERA based on legal action brought by the PSA and the New Zealand Professional Fire Fighters Union (NZPFU) is due any day now.
“We welcome the decision to pause for now. It is the right thing to do while the ERA process plays out, but it should never have come to this. The restructure needs to be shelved once and for all,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
“We are calling on the Government to intervene, ensure FENZ has the resources to do its job properly, and take the job cuts off the table entirely.”
FENZ plans to cut 97 non-fire fighting roles, and significantly change 66 other roles.
“Let’s be honest about what is at stake here. The cuts will weaken our emergency response and put lives at risk. New Zealand cannot afford to lose these experienced, dedicated workers.”
FENZ had originally planned to announce final decisions before Christmas, then pushed the timeline to January, then to this week. The latest postponement follows legal action by the PSA and NZPFU over FENZ’s consultation process.
This is the biggest restructure in FENZ’s eight-year history.
“FENZ is making deadly choices on the allocation of funding,” said Wattie Watson, Secretary of the NZPFU. “FENZ is self-imposing cuts while it recklessly spends up to $100,000 a week on advertising firefighters’ strike action. This is a complete contradiction that FENZ is diverting its funding priorities to emergency response.”
Fleur Fitzsimons said: “The fact this restructure has been challenged, delayed and delayed again tells you that something is fundamentally wrong with it.
“New Zealand is facing more frequent and more severe weather events, more complex emergencies. Now is precisely the wrong time to be gutting the workforce that responds to them.”.
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The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi is Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest trade union, representing and supporting more than 95,000 workers across central government, state-owned enterprises, local councils, health boards and community groups.
