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 goodwill, the NZPFU is cancelling the one-hour strikes notified for tomorrow (Wednesday) and Friday.

The parties last met in facilitated bargaining in early February. In March, CE Kerry Gregory informed the Union that FENZ was working up a new offer. FENZ has never provided that new offer and for 7 months has done nothing to try and settle the bargaining. NZPFU members have taken 65 one-hour strikes in their bid to have FENZ make a reasonable offer to settle the dispute.

The NZPFU expects FENZ to come to bargaining this week with an offer to settle. Key to a settlement will be safe systems of work, addressing the serious threat to dozens of jobs in FENZ’s proposed restructure, as well as reasonable pay increases and pay structures.

The NZPFU has been fighting for safe systems of work, including an increase in firefighters necessary to maintain minimum crewing, as well as a process for the procurement of reliable and fit-for-purpose appliances, uniforms, and equipment.

• FENZ has reneged on an “agreement in principle” to increase the ratio of firefighters that was determined through a joint working party established as part of the 2022 collective agreement settlement.
  
  
• The NZPFU is very concerned that FENZ has started to reduce the number of firefighters in Auckland. FENZ management worked with the NZPFU Auckland Local to introduce a new relief roster to address fire stations closing or having appliances offline or short-crewed. The relief roster was effective, but Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler is intent on removing the relief roster and dropping the number of firefighters across Auckland.
  
  
• Ms Stiffler has also produced a draft policy that will reduce the number and occurrence of firefighters being called back to station when on-duty crews are working at an incident. The draft policy gives Ms Stiffler the authority to determine when callbacks occur and change the number of firefighters usually deployed. The current process of calling back off-duty firefighters to station is necessary for those areas to continue to have career firefighters on station for emergency response. Regional towns like Taupō, Gisborne, Masterton, New Plymouth, Whanganui, and others rely heavily on callbacks. Without firefighters being called back, there will be delays in response that will greatly affect the outcomes for those needing medical response or rescue, as well as firefighting. The likely outcomes are a greater number of deaths, more significant property loss, and economic loss for those affected by emergencies, including businesses.
  

Then there is the impact of the restructure that FENZ is intent on pushing through, which could affect dozens of jobs and will be detrimental to NZPFU members, including those working in risk reduction and training. The NZPFU and PSA will be taking the matter back to the Employment Relations Authority.

NZPFU members have not had a wage increase since July 2023. In July, FENZ gave all non-NZPFU members a 2.4% pay increase, including highly paid managers earning more than $200,000 p.a. FENZ has never offered that increase to the NZPFU.

Firefighters make up the largest group of the lowest-paid staff in FENZ, with the lowest ranks barely being paid the minimum wage and not being paid the living wage. The structure of firefighters’ wages needs to be addressed, and reasonableness requires comparisons against other FENZ roles as well as relevant firefighting wages outside of FENZ.

Bargaining is also being conducted in a context where the Minister for Internal Affairs, Brooke van Velden, has publicly called the actions of CE Kerry Gregory “despicable” and declared she has no confidence in him after he decided not to inform her of a critical issue regarding the administration of the fire service levy. That matter is reported to have occurred around 2021 and has been referred to the Serious Fraud Office. Mr Gregory is reportedly on holiday in the northern hemisphere, and the Board has yet to release any statement on his future.

The Minister’s blunt assessment of Kerry Gregory came to light days after the Parliamentary Governance and Administration Select Committee released its scathing report into FENZ’s management of fleet and other issues. CE Kerry Gregory, Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler, and current Acting CE Darryl Purdy appeared before the Committee and provided information on a number of occasions. The Committee report records the failure of FENZ to provide clear, correct, and unambiguous information, and went as far as describing the conduct as “deliberately misleading”.

As a result of that inquiry, the Labour Party and the Green Party have both committed to a full independent inquiry of FENZ. If elected, the National Party has pledged to change the reporting structure of FENZ so that it comes under the Ministry of Emergency Management.

In unity,
Wattie Watson
NZPFU National Secretary