Since the NZPFU one-hour strikes started in October 2025, FENZ has been burning through $70,000 to $99,000 a week on a media campaign against the NZPFU one-hour strikes.

Documents show that FENZ has been keeping Minister Brooke van Velden in the loop on the detail of media campaign including the wording of the advertisements.

FENZ is burning through nearly $100,000 for a few days of advertising every week, rather than getting back to bargaining and using all available funds to make a reasonable offer to the striking workers.

The media campaigns run every week the NZPFU membership walks off the job for one-hour to highlight the dire emergency in FENZ.

The NZPFU members are exposing the impacts of insufficient firefighters and 111 emergency dispatchers leaving trucks understaffed or offline and 111 emergency dispatch centres understaffed most days and not staffed at times. The limping fleet of fire appliances leave firefighters stranded at station, or beside a broken truck roadside or at the incident regularly. These failures are putting the safety of the community at avoidable and foreseeable risk regularly.

NZPFU members are campaigning for safe staffing, reliable appliances, recognition of occupational cancer, access to mental health programmes and fair wages and conditions.

NZPFU members have not had a pay increase since July 2023.

The largest group of firefighters are Senior Firefighters (with qualifications and up to 9 years of experience) whose base wages are $80,682 gross p.a. for working 42 hours a week.

It is outrageous that FENZ can blow more than a year’s base salary for most firefighters on a few days of advertising.

The NZPFU is calling for a proper inquiry into the management of FENZ and the way in which the fire service levy is being spent.

FENZ is in the process of undertaking cuts to meet self-imposed budget cuts of about $50 million which includes job losses.

What FENZ has not cut is the millions of dollars it is spending advertising against the NZPFU strike action.