Collective Agreement Negotiations
Agreement negotiations re-commenced on Friday 4 July.
Prior to that meeting, the Union Committee received a briefing on TAPs development. Coming out of this were a number of matters of detail requiring further discussion.
The Fire Service negotiators indicated they were at the limit of their bargaining authorities and would need to seek further guidance from the
Commission and other
agencies such as the State Services Commission.
A further meeting is scheduled for 17 July.
Auckland - Integration
This matter was last reported on in Newsletter No.6/2003. That Newsletter advised, amongst other things, that the Fire Service had filed in the Employment Court for an injunction to restrain alleged strike action and to prevent unlawful picketing.
As a result of that action, further unsuccessful mediation was held.
The Fire Service has now advised that they do not intend to proceed their action on an interim basis (i.e. seeking an interim injunction),
but will proceed to a full hearing. It is
expected that this will occur in the first half of September.
As noted in Newsletter No.6/2003, the Fire Service continued to name as first Defendants, individual Union officials:
Mike McEnaney, Athol Conway and Jeff McCulloch.
The Union is named as Second Defendant.
Other Issues
- Recognition of prior service with State Agencies for Service Holidays (i.e. after 7
after 7 year’s service).
Since the inception of Service Holidays, it had been agreed that service with various State Agencies (e.g. Armed
Forces, Public Service etc.) would count towards the 7 year
qualifying requirement for Service Holidays.
Arbitrarily and without any notice, the Fire Service decided to stop this practice.
The Union has filed in the Employment Relations Authority alleging breach of contract, and mediation on this matter
will occur shortly.
2. Uniform/Protective Clothing
This matter was reported on in Newsletter No.4/2003. That Newsletter noted that an agreed meeting to discuss various
concerns had not yet taken place. A meeting has
now been arranged for 15 July and hopefully further progress will be able to be made after that meeting.
3. ACC – Partnership Programme
As an accredited employer within the ACC Partnership Programme, the Fire Service is directly responsible for paying
the costs of work related ACC claims and for providing
Rehabilitation services.
Recently the Union has been assisting a number of members who have had problems with the Fire Service Claims Management
Unit – one of these cases proceeding to a
hearing before the Disputes Tribunal.
Members should contact the Union for assistance early on if they experience problems with the Fire Service Claims Unit
