The National Committee are extremely proud and excited to announce Joanne (Wattie) Watson as our new Secretary.

Wattie starts with us on the 10th December 2018 and is equally proud and excited to be joining us and sees this role as incredibly important and a great opportunity to continue her advocacy for firefighters and the industry.

We will be working collectively with Wattie to familiarise her with the role, and particularly working with Local Secretary’s to introduce her to all of you, our members, in the coming months so that she can listen and learn from all of you about what’s important in your part of our world.

Wattie comes with a broad union/legal background and a passion for improving the working lives of firefighters.

Wattie has wealth of experience in bargaining, negotiations, disputes and grievances and campaigning.

For the past 7 years Wattie has been the National Industrial Officer for the United Firefighters Union of Australia based in Melbourne. The UFUA represents Australia's professional career firefighters federally and across 8 states and territories.

In that role she has been directly involved in successful strategies to advance the interests of professional career firefighters both at a national and state level.

The health and wellbeing of firefighters is paramount, she considers the enactment of presumptive legislation recognising firefighters' occupational cancer a highlight of her time with the UFUA. More recently the focus has extended to mental health assistance and wellness programmes.

Australian unions have been under a concerted attack over recent years but the UFUA has not only survived but thrived building on world-class terms and conditions of employment and safe systems of work for professional career firefighters.

Prior to taking up the role with the UFUA, Wattie was considered an industrial/employment law specialist in New Zealand and was regularly called upon to speak at law conferences on the legal rights of workers and unions. She was a Principal of two law firms over a 10-year period.

Wattie's union ties stretch back to the 1980s when she was an active member and delegate of the then Journalists and Graphic Processes Union JAGPRO, and later she was a legal officer for the PSA. During her time with the PSA Wattie was part of a trade union consultation committee working on what became the Employment Relations Act 2000, and was a Cabinet appointee on the working party which developed the Holidays Act 2003.


Related Articles

VIEW ALL VIEW ALL

Breaking News

Tamaki Makaurau Flooding, State of Local Civil Defence Emergency

Last nights unprecedented weather event caused widespread havoc across the region with Fire and Emergency career and volunteer crews, operational support and 111 emergency dispatchers working to exhaustion, with all available FENZ resources at times being mobilised to incidents right across the region.


Season’s Greetings and Office Hours

The Auckland Local wishes all members a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. The Auckland Office will be closed from the afternoon of Friday 23 December 2022, reopening on Monday 9 January 2023.


Ratification Meeting next Tuesday 13th Dec at 5pm

As you will be well aware by now, we have finally reached an agreed term of settlement in the negotiation for a new CEA. The NZPFU is recommending members accept it and ratify the settlement offer. The National Committee has completely wrung out the sponge for every possible drop of benefit to members, and it's now our turn to act.