Welcome to the third Wellington Newsletter. My apologies for not getting one out before now.
Time goes quick when you get to my age!

Committee

The Wellington reps are unchanged from the last newsletter but there has been a few changes in the Hutt.
After Dave Cairns resigned, Russell Fairbrass took over his slot and now
Alex Dittmer has resigned from his position, leaving another position free for the Hutt.
There has been several members interested in this position, and elections will be held shortly.

Staff movements

There has been a few changes in the Hutt and Wellington Districts.
Shane Vermeulan has moved back to Gisborne.
Suzette Thompson, Angie Weir (both Hutt) and Tim Scott (Masterton) have moved on to Palmerston North.
Marina Burling has headed back to Masterton from Rimutaka.
Brent Pritchard has arrived at Rimutaka.
Grant Hayward picked up the vacancy left by Brett Lockyers departure to City.
Glenn Bouzaid has slotted into his SO promotion at Avalon. Alex Dittmer has been granted 12 months leave to head to Christchurch.
Brendan Nally has started as AM in the Hutt just in time for Bernie Rush to head to National HQ to work on a USAR project, and Laurence Voight has stepped up to fill his AAM slot in the meantime.
We would also like to welcome the new rookies starting recently."Midge" Goodhue at Hutt City and Leigh Kelly at Trentham. Also Paul Bland at City Green and David Kemp-Milham at Porirua Greens.
Also just in is news of 3 promotions in Wellington. Dave Miller, Clarke Townsley, and surprise, surprise, Mannie Hargreaves.
Alison Kerr (admin Hutt) has also had her job made permanent.
Congrats to Martin Sparrow and Nadine on their recent arrival of Elle. Martin is easily recognizable, he's the one with the eyeballs hanging out!
Thanks to Andy Tuffin for the info. If I've left anyone out, drop me a line!

Recent Local discussions

There has been talk lately of the strengthening process at city station. we are considering having a rep from each watch along with a Local rep to help manage this process with management in particular relocation of trucks and people, scope of contract etc etc.

Social Media Networks

There still seems to be people out to do mischief with these. A good place to start for info is your Local Rep or the NZPFU website. It's not a good idea to treat comments on the sites as the truth!

PCA

Steve Field is the contact person for this in Wellington and Hamish Rankine in the Hutt.

Industrial Action

All over now! It's still taking a bit of time to get back into the swing of normal shifts etc. It was interesting that the vote was split by quite a small margin. Whether the new contract will suit the majority, time will tell, but indications from the National Union are that the increase in base pay is the name of the game. It's probably fair to say that this won't happen overnight but could well be easier to sell to the powers to be (including those MP's in the House).

NZPFU Text Service

A reminder once again, especially to our new people, that if you haven't signed up to this service, you are encouraged to do so. There is no cost and is a great way of receiving info. It is available by following the links at the bottom of the NZPFU website. www.nzpfu.org.nz

That will just about do it for me. If anyone has any thoughts or news, feel free to contact me at Avalon Green's 5778380, 021 1003645 or hamish.rankine@gmail.com.