Firefighters union resumes industrial action, still responding to emergencies

Friday, 14 October 2022

NZPFU firefighters in Central Auckland talk about why they're taking strike action.

The New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) will resume industrial strike action from 8 o’clock on Saturday morning, despite Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) saying it is “hopeful for a settlement of a collective agreement”.

Back in September, NZPFU paused industrial action following a facilitated mediation process with Fenz over low pay, long hours and unacceptable working conditions.

A source has told Stuff a draft report of the recommendations made by mediator Graeme Colgan was released to NZPFU last week.

“The NZPFU sought to meet with Fenz to discuss areas of agreement and determine a process for negotiating outstanding matters,” the source said.

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Palmerston North Firefighters march through the CBD on strike for an hour for the second time in a week after negotiations with FENZ broke down. (File photo)

“Fenz advised they wouldn't be in a position to meet before 27 October due to their processes and a key team member would be overseas shortly.”

NZPFU said they were “very disappointed that Fenz is still not making the bargaining a priority”.

Fenz and NZPFU have been bargaining over pay and working conditions for more than a year.

Fenz said in a statement on Friday that they are “working to look at the detailed recommendations and see what is feasible and sustainable”.

The recommendations will not be made public until October 21.

“Our focus remains on enabling our firefighters to get back to serving the community without what has become a lengthy negotiation hanging over all of us,” Fire and Emergency chief executive Kerry Gregory said.

Firefighters walked off the job in August. (File photo)

From Saturday, union members will not carry out a range of administrative tasks, including gathering statistics, fire reports and providing incident information to internal or external media inquiries.

They will still be responding to emergencies, including all fires and medical incidents.

“The resumption of this action does not affect emergency response in any way,” NZPFU said in a statement.

“The type of bans on work and policies do not impact on the public. The NZPFU believes it is necessary to keep pressure on Fenz to get back around the table to get a collective agreement settled.”

NZPFU first began its partial strike action back in June, following a year of bargaining with Fenz.

Union secretary Wattie Watson said staff shortages were one of the key issues facing professional firefighters.

“Most firefighters are working 100 hours a week, but there is only 168 hours in a week.

“We’ve tried avoiding this but, our firefighters are exhausted,” she said about the industrial action.

About 2000 firefighters in the union walked off the job for an hour on Friday, August 19, after Fenz and NZPFU reached a “stalemate” in the bargaining process.