FENZ will be directly contacting members shortly about remediation payments due to failures to properly calculate various types of leave and pay adjustments.
The NZPFU members never walk alone. We have received the below message of solidarity from the PSA Auckland and Northern Region convenors.
The NZPFU is continuing to undertake one-hour full stoppages in a bid to get FENZ to produce a new offer.
Last week, the NZPFU National Council met with FBU General Secretary Steve Wright and staff to share the struggles each union is facing and fighting. The NZPFU had reached out to the FBU as the UK firefighters have weathered more than 10 years of sustained austerity which saw the loss of thousands of firefighters' jobs, dozens of stations and substantial reduction in fire appliances.
The Parliamentary Governance and Administration Select Committee has formally launched an inquiry into FENZ’s fleet management.
Members of Parliament across the political spectrum have listened to NZPFU members and this afternoon have announced there will be a Select Committee inquiry into the dire state of FENZ’s fire fleet.
While NZPFU members have not had a pay increase since July 2023, with some ranks struggling at below living-wage levels, FENZ conducts an easter-egg hunt for HQ staff and Region offices.
The FENZ Board, executive leadership, Public Services Commission and the Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden have no shame in boosting the FENZ Board members' payments up 79% while many firefighters languish just above the minimum wage and well below the living wage.
FENZ has made the decision to take money out of our pay before any strike action has even occurred.
That's a deliberate choice, and it is a serious escalation of the bargaining.
FENZ is deducting wages for strikes yet to occur, which is not lawful or reasonable.
The NZPFU is calling for an independent inquiry into FENZ to examine why FENZ has failed to manage funding to ensure that it has the capacity and capability for reliable emergency response to the New Zealand public, now and in the future.
Due to the moving extreme weather events warranting civil emergencies and deployments of additional resources including USAR and water rescue teams, and clean ups in the aftermath, the NZPFU has cancelled todays strike.