New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union members covered by the bargaining will twice stop work for one hour later this month. Photo / Bevan Conley
New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union members covered by the bargaining will twice stop work for one hour later this month. Photo / Bevan Conley
The New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) says it is escalating its strike action.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) has been given notice today that all NZPFU members covered by the bargaining will stop work for one hour from 11am to midday on August 19 and for the same time on August 26.
The strike action includes all career fire stations, training centres and 111 fire communications centres.
The negotiations for a collective agreement began in June last year and 13 months later little progress has been made, the NZPFU said.
In June the parties agreed to an independent mediator and an agreed process took place during July 2022.
The NZPFU said it notified FENZ it would make a decision on further industrial action at 3pm today and at 2.53pm FENZ sent through the attached revised offer.
The NZPFU's National Committee of Management considered the revised offer this afternoon and unanimously voted to reject it.
The NZPFU has also requested that mediation be set down for Wednesday and Thursday next week.
FENZ deputy national commander Brendan Nally said it is disappointing NZPFU has given notice of escalated strike action, despite a substantial new pay offer.
Nally said the offer would see base salaries for all firefighters increase by between 8 and 19 per cent over the next two years. Normal pay progression, in addition to the general pay rises above, will also continue.
"The NZPFU is still seeking total increases across both pay and allowances of more than 40 per cent for most firefighters," Nally said.
During the one-hour strikes, Nally said FENZ will continue to respond to emergencies.
However, within areas served primarily by career firefighters, the response may be with fewer firefighters than usual, and response may be delayed.
The NZPFU has previously said there is "a fire crisis" with FENZ failing to employ sufficient career firefighters and 111 emergency call centre dispatchers to meet minimum staffing.
This has resulted, the NZPFU said, in the closure of some career stations, fire trucks have been taken offline and firefighters are riding in unsafe short-crews to keep the fire trucks responding.
Although they are employed to work 42 hours a week, the union has said firefighters are largely working 60-80 hours and some report working 100 hours.
The firefighters' union is seeking guaranteed mental health and wellbeing programs along with increased pay. Photo / Bevan Conley
The union is seeking guaranteed mental health and wellbeing programmes that meet the needs of firefighters, and ongoing access to psychological professionals.
It said all ranks of firefighters are low-paid and that the lower ranks of firefighters are "barely paid the adult minimum wage".
The strike action to date has largely been behind the scenes and will not affect firefighters who will be responding to fires and emergencies and protecting the public as usual.
The NZPFU represents professional career firefighters, 111 emergency call centre dispatchers, Volunteer Support Officers, community risk reduction and resilience advisors, trainers and other specialist roles.
