Source: Radio New Zealand
Messages written on an Auckland fire engine protesting firefighters’ working conditions. RNZ / Rayssa Almeida
Paid firefighters will continue with strike action and not withdraw their notices as Fire and Emergency is urging them to.
The Employment Relations Authority is referring the warring sides to facilitated bargaining.
FENZ is welcoming the decision and said the union is calling on the Professional Firefighters Union to withdraw strike action, the next of which is for an hour on Friday.
But the union says it will not be doing that.
“It’s a bit rich actually, them asking for that,” NZPFU national secretary Wattie Watson said.
“It’s not going to happen, FENZ needs to get around the table and make some progress with us and we will do so,” she said.
The union said there was nothing to stop FENZ from going into talks or agreeing to dates for them outside the ERA process.
“In fact, it’s probably something that the ERA would expect, that we would do our damnedest at getting around the table and negotiating,” Watson said.
“FENZ is just sitting back on its hands saying, well, now it’s with the Authority.”
Fire and Emergency said the talks over pay and conditions had gone on for more than 16 months.
“Attending independent facilitation with the Authority is the next logical step in coming to an agreement and we will participate in good faith with the NZPFU,” deputy national commander Megan Stiffler said.
“We hope the facilitation process introduces some realism to the discussions.”
FENZ said its latest pay offer was “a fair and sustainable” increase.
The offer amounts to a 6.2 percent average increase over three years which it said is in line with other public sector agreements.
As it called for the union to withdraw its strikes, FENZ said there was no good reason for continuing to put the community at risk.
The union said it was FENZ putting the community at risk with its resourcing and fire trucks and equipment that kept breaking down.
“If firefighters can’t get to the fire or the incident quick enough, then their ability to protect and rescue and to douse a fire is compromised considerably,” Watson said.
“So FENZ every day, every day rolls that dice on community safety, which should not be occurring.”
Watson said facilitated bargaining is “not the magic wand” FENZ thought it was.
The facilitator, at most, can put forward recommendations, she said.
“Either party can reject or accept those recommendations and it would take both parties to accept them in order for them to result in a settlement.”
Last month 60 firefighters marched from their Pitt Street central Auckland fire station to Karangahape Road, protesting over pay and work conditions.
Firefighters protest in Auckland streets last month. RNZ/Lucy Xia
Banners highlighted concerns with the fleet, equipment and staffing.
Firefighter and union delegate Adam Wright had previously said the protest wasn’t just about pay.
He said the fleet was in tatters, with a conservative estimate of 800 fire truck breakdown in Auckland over a 12-month period.
The ERA will next hold a case management conference.
The Professional Firefighters Union has issued strike notices for 5 December, 12 December and 19 December.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
