Some members will be aware that FRM Butt has completely disregarded the discussions which have been held with the Auckland Local over the placement of staff at Te Atatu, and more recently, Otara Stations.

These discussions have been going on for some considerable time and further meetings had been planned but not finalised.

FRM Butt has now completely destroyed any trust and confidence the Auckland Local Executive may have had in the process, which we believed was proceeding reasonably amicably, by allowing his Area Managers Kerry Gregory and Denis O’Donoghue to advertise for vacancies, which at the present time do not exist, at both Te Atatu and Otara Stations.

The future issue of the staffing at Te Atatu Station has been, in recent times, rather contentious, as the Fire Service reneged on the promise made by Paul McGill that there would be additional staff provided and budgeted for to fill the vacancies created by the building and 24/7 operation of Te Atatu Station. It now appears that the Fire Service are determined to force the issue of the Avondale Type 4 Bronto being placed at Te Atatu and no additional staff provided to run it, with no consideration being given to the wellbeing of the staff displaced against their will by this move.

The Auckland Local is extremely concerned that the ‘displaced’ firefighters and officers from both Avondale and now Auckland City Stations will not be given the first option of moving to either Te Atatu or Otara, as FRM Butt has now created a situation where the firefighters of the districts where the new Te Atatu and the additional staff for Otara, get first pick, and the firefighters who will be shafted from their chosen workplaces, will have to take the last holes left.

It is a fact that virtually no staff at Auckland City Station live south of that station. Most live on the Shore or West Auckland and the Auckland Local Executive feels that this is a recurrence of the movement of staff that took place when the CST stations were created and the D1 staff were forced to serve far from their homes at considerable extra cost, and this after having worked their way to a place where they wished to be over a number of years.

The reason that Otara Station has entered the mix is that National Commander Hall has forced upon Auckland the ill-conceived Hazmat/ICU concept, which may be great for Taupo or Napier, but is an absolute disaster for Auckland and the other larger cities. The planners in the Auckland Region have decided that, by using local speed limits and adding 10 kph, they can get a true response time for these vehicles. The Auckland Local Executive have seen the maps showing the supposed response times and were horrified to see that Auckland Region are using 90 kph as the average speed for these vehicles on motorways over a 24 hour period. The NZTA and the AA have both done proper research and found that the average speed throughout the greater Auckland Area over a 24 hour period is 43 kph.

The Auckland Local Committee has met and recommends to its members that until such time as proper consultation and meaningful discussions take place over these staff movements

"No member of the Auckland Local shall apply for any vacancy at Te Atatu or Otara Stations, and any members who have already applied shall forthwith withdraw those applications."

 Furthermore, until some discussion around the siting and use of the two Hazmat/ICU vehicles takes place: