Firefighters accept pay offer

Professional firefighters have ratified a new collective agreement. Photo / NZME

Professional firefighters have accepted new collective agreement from Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz), bringing an 18-month dispute to a close. The agreement lifts pay rates by 20-24 per cent and provides for better conditions, like early screening for certain cancers.

The agreement between Fenz and professional firefighters was negotiated early this month, but has only now been ratified by firefighters - 97.7 per cent voted in favour of the deal.

It came after an intervention from the Government to top up what Fenz could offer firefighters with a Crown loan.

Fenz is funded mainly through levies on insurance, not through the Crown.

Internal Affairs Minister Jan Tinetti put up a $75.4m loan to Fenz, allowing the organisation to better its offer to firefighters.

“The $75.4 million we provided to Fire and Emergency New Zealand is a repayable capital injection loan. It meant they could provide an offer which was acceptable to firefighters, ensure the services that we all value could continue and that they got the increase to pay we know they deserve,” Tinetti said.

A release from Tinetti said that for senior professional firefighters, the loan meant average pay of $82,699.89. This is an increase from what Fenz previously offered of $75,017 - a 10.24 per cent increase as a direct result of the Government getting involved.

“Within the constraints of my role as Minister, I worked actively with the firefighters union and Fire and Emergency New Zealand to get to a successful resolution, including bringing the parties together to meet with me in the Beehive to assist in finding a way forward. It was a more active role than I had anticipated needing to play but it was necessary to ensure we could resolve the bargaining,” Tinetti said.

Professional Firefighters’ Union National Secretary Wattie Watson said the agreement “will change lives and save lives with pay increases between 20-24 per cent and blood screening for firefighters’ occupational cancers.”

“This settlement could not have been reached without the support of the Government which included a financial structure for $100 million of the $145 million settlement,” Watson said.

The agreement is centred around an uplift to base pay in acknowledgement of the changing nature of the emergency response role.

Fenz chief executive Kerry Gregory said the organisation’s “aim has always been to do right by our people, while ensuring the sustainability of Fire and Emergency for all New Zealanders,”.

“I want to acknowledge and thank everyone involved and impacted for their patience as we worked through this lengthy and challenging process alongside the NZPFU.

“I am optimistic the ratification of this agreement signals a step forward in rebuilding relationships,” Gregory said.

The agreement includes blood screening for the early detection of firefighters’ occupational cancer and other illness, described by the union as “life-saving”.

It also includes a psychological support and supervision programme for firefighters and dispatchers as well as financial assistance for all members to access income protection and life insurance.