Striking firefighters and their employer are looking to re-engage in collective bargaining following several weeks of industrial action.
The New Zealand Professional Firefighters’ Union and Fire and Emergency New Zealand are working on a process to “re-engage constructively in collective bargaining”, the organisations said in a joint statement on Monday.
“A mutually agreed third party will be engaged to support and assist this re-engagement.”
Firefighters, led by the union, have been on a partial strike nationwide since June 12.
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They are refusing to complete mandatory administrative tasks like gathering statistics, non-essential paperwork, training and attending conferences.
MONIQUE FORD/Stuff
Porirua Fire Station was understaffed over the weekend.
The union earlier threatened to escalate strike action if no agreements were made.
The joint statement said the strike remained in place, “but this will not impact our career firefighters’ ability to respond to emergency incidents”.
The union and Fire and Emergency have been in bargaining for a year after more than a year of bargaining over pay, working conditions and staff numbers.
Fire stations nationwide have had to close temporarily multiple times this year due to understaffing and career firefighters working too many hours of overtime.
“This is a systemic issue that stems from a historic lack of funding,” the union’s Auckland local secretary Martin Campbell said earlier this month.
Christel Yardley/Stuff
Writing on the window at Hamilton Fire Station.
Campell said Fire and Emergency was “rolling the dice” with its career firefighters, who were working overtime to “fill the gaps” in staffing numbers amid low levels of recruitment.
“Some of them tell me they end up working for over 100 hours a week,” he said.
The union was not only fighting for an increase in pay and more staff, but better psychological support following traumatic incidents, he said.
Onehunga senior officer Jason Cameron said career firefighters were forced to deal with emotionally charged situations for which they had no training.
The veteran firefighter had lost five colleagues to suicide over the past 25 years, he said.
Both organisations said they would not be making any further comments on the bargaining process and further updates would be “provided in due course”.
