The Minister for Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden has publicly declared she has no confidence in FENZ CE Kerry Gregory.
The Minister also raised with the Board her “concerns relating to the capability of other senior leaders within FENZ”.
The NZPFU National Committee and Local Secretaries have been discussing the appropriate ballots that should be put to members in the upcoming NZPFU membership meetings.
The NZPFU and PSA have filed joint proceedings in the Employment Relations Authority seeking compliance orders with an earlier Employment Relations Authority decision that found FENZ had failed to consult in accordance with the unions’ employment agreements.
The NZPFU will be holding a national round of meetings with members as detailed below. The meetings have been arranged so that the relevant National Committee members can attend each meeting.
FENZ and the NZPFU met in bargaining today for the first time in 7 months.
FENZ presented a formal offer of a 2.2% increase commencing from the date of ratification. FENZ recently handed all non-NZPFU members,
including managers earning more than $200,000, a pay increase of 2.4% backdated to 1 July 2026.
In March 2026, CE Kerry Gregory wrote to the NZPFU stating FENZ was “working up a new offer”, but FENZ stated the offer made today was their
position as of December 2025 (with a few minor changes).
The NZPFU and FENZ will be back in bargaining this week after a 7-month hiatus. The NZPFU and FENZ will meet in facilitated bargaining on
Thursday and Friday.
As an act of good faith, the NZPFU is cancelling the one-hour strikes notified for tomorrow (Wednesday) and Friday.
Our members serve their communities to protect and preserve life, property and the environment. NZPFU representatives are based on all career fire stations. There are also 19 Union Locals in the major metropolitan and principal centres where career firefighters are employed.
