FENZ CE Kerry Gregory’s resignation announcement this evening should be the catalyst for massive and sweeping change for FENZ.

CE Kerry Gregory had run out of room – there was no way he could survive the outcome of the Parliamentary Select Committee Report into the state of the fleet, the finding that senior leadership had “deliberately misled” the Committee on key operational points, or the Minister’s declaration of a complete loss of confidence over his handling of a matter that is now before the Serious Fraud Office.

He had demonstrated time and time again that he did not have the attributes necessary to lead FENZ. His position was untenable with the exposure of his recent actions.

The FENZ Board must now seriously review and consider the merits and process of the changes he was pursuing, as well as scrutinise the actions of those who were enabling him to do so.

Kerry Gregory’s “vision” included a wide-sweeping restructure that would do nothing to refocus the organisation on emergency response, driving down career firefighter numbers, and truncating critical community risk initiatives (including this week’s announcement of reducing domestic smoke alarm installations).

Under his watch, the number of highly paid managers and non-operational staff soared while firefighters were left with a fleet of ageing and unreliable appliances, assets were not maintained (resulting in career recruits graduating without ever having experienced live fire training), and firefighters were left to deploy from substandard stations that have perilously low earthquake ratings or result in repeated, avoidable exposures to asbestos.

Under his watch, the NZPFU strongly believes firefighting is more dangerous than it has ever been, with failures to maintain minimum staffing requiring responses in fire appliances that break down en route or at incidents.

As CE, Kerry Gregory has led an attack on NZPFU members. He authorised a 2.2% offer to NZPFU members who have not had a pay increase for three years, while awarding 2.4% to all non-NZPFU staff, including those who have had pay increases in the interim. We believe his vision for NZPFU members was to try and starve them out of their union membership and the current bargaining dispute through failed, old-fashioned union-busting attempts.

The NZPFU would welcome an opportunity to meet with the Board to discuss what now needs to be done to turn the organisation around, ensuring its resources are used properly for the purposes provided.

In unity,
Wattie Watson
National Secretary