Source: Radio New Zealand
Members of the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) were striking on Friday for an hour. RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Fire and Emergency says it received 17 callouts during the firefighters’ union’s strike today.
Members of the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) were striking on Friday for an hour.
Only eight of the callouts were in areas impacted by the strike.
Fire and Emergency (FENZ) said four were callouts to fire alarms, two were vehicle crashes, with the remaining two a hedge fire and a small fire in a rubbish truck.
It said volunteers responded as normal to incidents within their brigade areas.
“Thank you to our more than 11,000 volunteers across the country, and their employers for supporting them to respond over today’s strike hour,” Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler said.
“I would also like to thank our Operational Commanders and Communication Centre Managers, who contributed to the response.”
Stiffler said FENZ was disappointed that the NZPFU had issued further strike notices for one-hour strikes at 12pm on 28 November and 5 December.
“I urge the NZPFU to withdraw these latest strike notices and not issue any more, so we can get back around the bargaining table while we wait for our application for facilitation to be considered,” Stiffler said.
“Fire and Emergency ‘s goal is, and has always been, to reach a fair, sustainable, and reasonable settlement with the NZPFU. We are bargaining in good faith and doing everything we can to achieve an agreement without disrupting the services communities rely on,” she said.
It said FENZ had also been investing in replacing its fleet, with 317 trucks replaced since 2017 and another 78 on order.
The Fire Service and NZPFU have been negotiating a collective employment agreement for career firefighters since July 2024.
FENZ said it had improved its original offer of a 5.1 percent pay increase over the next three years, as well as increases to some allowances.
It said for the 2025/26 financial year FENZ’s operating budget was $857.9 million. Of that operating budget, it said 59 percent would be spent directly on the frontline, while another 32 percent would be spent on frontline enablers.
The NZPFU said when it met with FENZ in bargaining this week it put up two different proposals for discussion. It said FENZ rejected both and did not move at all from their position.
“That is not negotiating. That is disrespectful to our members and the work and service they provide,” it said.
It said FENZ filed an urgent application in October and last week the hearing was adjourned until 25 November, 2025.
“The NZPFU is opposing the application for facilitation as that will only serve to delay any hope of proper negotiations and settlement.”
“We do not need facilitation. We need FENZ to genuinely bargain.”
It said FENZ rolled that dice on risk every day “with aging and failing fleet and equipment and insufficient staffing which results in fire trucks responding under-crewed, or not responding due to lack of staff”.
FENZ rejected that.
“Our primary focus is on keeping the community safe and responding to all calls for help. Where we have people away with illnesses, training or leave, we utilise overtime, callbacks and move people and resources as needed to ensure we prioritise community safety. Our stations support each other to respond to incidents, or to provide cover for each other, depending on the incident type and location.”
It said it also applied for facilitation under urgency with the Employment Relations Authority because of the protracted nature of bargaining and the impact on public safety from prolonged and repeated strike action.
“If granted, facilitation would assist in trying to progress bargaining to conclusion, which is in the best interests of the New Zealand public and our people.”
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
