Source: Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Fire and Emergency New Zealand is warning New Zealanders about the increasing threat posed by the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) escalating its industrial relations activity to two one-hour strikes per week.
Strikes are currently planned between midday-1pm this coming Friday and Monday, with subsequent strike notices in place for 20, 23 and 27 February, and 2 March.
During the strikes Fire and Emergency will still respond to emergency calls but is warning responses will be delayed in areas covered by professional firefighters as the closest, available volunteers will be responding from their stations.
“We think striking when both parties are actively involved in facilitation needlessly puts the community at risk,” Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler says.
“We asked for facilitation as there was a significant gap between what we were offering and the NZPFU’s expectations.
“Our offer at the time amounted to a 6.2 percent average increase over 3 years and compared favourably with equivalent recent public sector agreements, but this was three times less than the NZPFU’s settlement proposal.”
Fire and Emergency’s pre-facilitation offer would have taken average senior firefighter salaries from a range of approximately $81,000-$87,000 to $86,000-$93,000 at the end of the period, excluding overtime and allowances, which currently add an average of almost $39,000 to annual remuneration.
Over the past decade average senior firefighter pay has cumulatively increased by 37 percent, which is more than 10 percent above the average increase for all workers.
“We continue to call on the NZPFU to call off its now twice-weekly strikes while the process of facilitation takes place. We remain committed to a fair, sustainable, and reasonable settlement so we can continue working to keep our communities safe.”