ONE HOUR STRIKE TOMORROW AT 12 NOON
NOTICE GIVEN OF A ONE HOUR STRIKE ON 31 OCTOBER
NZPFU members very reluctantly walk off the job for an hour tomorrow as FENZ continue to refuse to bargain.
Sadly as FENZ is refusing to bargain, and has not provided a new offer, tomorrow’s strike at noon will go ahead.
For details of all strike events go to: https://direemergency.nz/events/
FENZ refused to attend scheduled bargaining last week, and have filed for the parties to be forced into facilitation, because the NZPFU gave notice of strike action. The NZPFU told FENZ that the strike notice was to motivate FENZ to come to the scheduled bargaining willing to table a fair and reasonable offer, and that the strike notice would be withdrawn if sufficient progress was made. FENZ have said they have a revised offer to present but refuse to provide and meet when there was notice of strike action. The NZPFU has been clear that the way to stop the strike was to come to bargaining and make sufficient progress. FENZ’s June 13 offer was rejected by 99% of NZPFU members and FENZ has yet to provide a revised offer despite the NZPFU putting up a revised position with options for settlement.
Instead of meeting to negotiate last week, FENZ filed an urgent application in the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) for facilitation. The parties will mediate on the issue of FENZ’s application (not bargaining) next week and if FENZ don’t withdraw their application it will be heard in the ERA on 14 November 2025.
That means that FENZ has chosen to delay any progress in bargaining by at least 5 weeks by these tactics. FENZ could have shown up to bargaining last week and if they had made sufficient progress the strike tomorrow would have been cancelled.
Today the NZPFU issued notice of a 1 one-hour strike from 12 noon on Friday 31 October 2025. We hope this notice will cause FENZ to re-think their delay tactics and get back to bargaining.
FENZ management should be held accountable for the dire state of the organisation and the refusal to bargain.
FENZ claims to prioritise the safety, health and wellbeing of staff yet have no qualms in refusing to come to bargaining plummeting morale further.
FENZ is driving emergency response into the ground and with the failing fire appliances, unsafe stations, refusal to increase staffing, the NZPFU believes the job of a firefighter is now more dangerous than it was in the 1990s.
- Staffing was a key part in the settlement of the 2022 bargaining resulting in an “agreement in principle” to increase firefighting ratios which would see up to 235 additional firefighters employed. FENZ is yet to confirm it is walking away from the ratio uplift seeking repeated extensions of time to inform the union yet its actions indicate that it is reneging on that agreement. FENZ has already cut one of the standard four recruits courses and have stated another recruit course is at risk – that is cutting the usual recruitment level that is necessary to maintain staffing levels without any increase in ratio.
- FENZ and the NZPFU both had claims to increase the staffing of the 111 emergency dispatch centres which is desperately needed to ensure minimum staffing yet FENZ did not include the uplift in their claim.
- The state of the fire appliances is dire and failing leaving firefighters stranded on the way to calls, at station or even at the incident without water while internal firefighting. About 40 new appliances are due to arrive in fire stations over the next few months but most are already out of warranty as FENZ had the trucks chassis’ sitting in a paddock for years before building them. They are also the same type of appliance that has had intercooler issues across the fleet. Other new appliances were supposed to carry hydraulic rescue equipment but have been poorly designed and the life-saving gear doesn’t fit.
- In the 1990s Auckland had 5 heavy aerial appliances – it is lucky to have a few operational day by day in 2025. Often there is only one heavy aerial from Hamilton to Whangarei. FENZ is regularly robbing Peter to pay Paul by moving aging and failing aerial appliances around the country and it is not usual for the loaned appliance fail on arrival.
- FENZ continues to fail firefighters with occupational cancer and has regularly been criticised in ACC reviews for not applying the law. FENZ’s processes cause delays that can affect treatment, causes stress and unnecessarily incurs costs just to have the occupational illness recognised as any other work related injury.
- Robust evidence demonstrates Firefighters and emergency call centre Dispatchers suffer trauma through their roles, but are also under considerable organisational stress. The lack of safe staffing, working excessive overtime, the dire state of appliances are all factors in the level and intensity of mental health issues for our members. The NZPFU funds places for members to access a week-long mental health programme and want FENZ to treat mental health programmes as training so that members are not economically disadvantaged or have to use their own leave. FENZ has refused to provide funding for health, wellbeing and fitness activities despite the wealth of evidence that demonstrates the link between healthy living and better mental health.
- FENZ has said in bargaining that it does not want to have any working parties or consultation committees with the NZPFU. Their June offer did not include any consultation structures.
- NZPFU members use their personal mobile phones for a myriad of work-related reasons yet FENZ has refused to provide any compensation or recompense.
- Training is in a dire state with trainers working extraordinary hours with little ability to increase their incomes through progression and FENZ refusing claims for specific recognition of their various roles.
- FENZ is refusing to include other roles that NZPFU have in the organisation which the NZPFU says is tantamount to forcing workers to change unions in order to have the terms and conditions in a collective agreement.
- NZPFU members have not had a pay increase since July 2023 and the FENZ offer was the equivalent of 5% over five years (with no backdating). FENZ’s 13 June meagre offer did not reflect FENZ’s own claims, or include accommodations of any of the NZPFU claims. NZPFU members continue to be disrespected by being among the lowest paid staff in FENZ on base wages that do not recognise the significant responsibility Officers have on the incident ground where their decisions affect the safety, health and wellbeing of not only the crews but the public they respond to.
In unity,
Wattie Watson
NZPFU National Secretary
