Q.F.F. Progression Dispute

The Union met with the Fire Service on Friday 4 October in formal mediation in an attempt to further progress this matter. Present for the Union were Brad MacLeod and Stefan Talaic (both affected members from Auckland), Arie McPhee (affected member from Wellington), Peter Nicolle, Derek best and the Union’s lawyer Peter Cranney.  Unfortunately attending for the Fire Service was only Chris Wells (Manager H.R. Services & employment Relations) – in effect Janine Hearn’s Deputy.

The Union put forward a number of possible or potential ways forward in order to resolve the Dispute. After consultation/communication with someone, Chris advised that the Fire Service would not move from its current stance. Consequently, the Union is looking at options to pursue the matter further, particularly what legal options are available, and members will be updated as the situation develops.

C.E.A. Pay Implementation

Following earlier notification regarding the timeframe for implementation of the new pay rates and pay structures resulting from the settlement and ratification of the new CEA between NZFS and the NZPFU, the proposed dates for implementation are now confirmed. The new pay rates will commence in the pay day of 16 October 2013, and all back pay to 1 July 2013 will be paid in the pay day of 30 October 2013.

As you will appreciate, the transition from the current pay structure to the new pay structure has been a very complex process, and it is possible that there will be a small number of individuals who have not been transitioned to the correct pay rates. This has been particularly challenging because of the need to draw from a number of databases to obtain the information necessary to determine where individuals should transition, particularly as it relates to partial completion of TAPS programmes.

We ask for patience as we work through any issues that do arise during implementation, and to assist in the quick resolution of those issues a dedicated email address has been set up for people to raise any issues or questions regarding to where they have been transitioned to in the new pay structure. So, if you have any questions or concerns at all on receiving your pay details for pay day 16 October 2013, please send these queries to CEAPayQueries@fire.org.nz. They will be acknowledged within 1 working day, and responded to within 4 working days (remembering that Payroll working days are Monday to Friday).

There are also a number of individuals who have attained qualifications or part qualifications, or had other status changes such as driver grade changes etc during the freeze on changes to the payroll system. The change freeze has now been lifted and the payroll team are working hard to action the backlog of changes. These will be actioned as soon as possible but will not all be reflected in the transition on the 16 October pay day as it will take some time to clear the backlog created by the freeze on changes.

Once again, if you have any questions or concerns regarding your transition to the new pay structures, please email CEAPayQueries@fire.org.nz to ensure a timely response to your query. Please do not email individual members of the payroll team as this will result in a delay to your questions being responded to. Your patience as the new pay structure is implemented is very much appreciated.