Deputy National Commander Brendan Nally says all 111 for fire calls will be answered and Fire and Emergency NZ will continue to respond to fire emergencies during the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union strike between 11am and 12 noon this Friday (19 August).
“I want to reassure people this strike action will not affect most of the country which is served by our volunteer crews who will respond as normal. However, we do ask the public in urban areas, primarily served by career firefighters, to remain extra vigilant during this strike hour,” he says.
“There will be significantly fewer firefighters and 111 Communication centre dispatchers than usual, and our responses will be delayed.
“Check your smoke alarms are working, make sure you have an evacuation plan from your house or place of work and take extra care. As always, we also ask people to only call 111 for Fire if there is a genuine emergency.
“Volunteers in urban areas will respond from their own stations in their own trucks to help as they do regularly when there are multiple emergencies at one time.
“We also won’t respond to less serious incidents in urban areas during the hour of the strike. For example, private fire alarms where there is no evidence of a fire, small rubbish fires, assisting traffic management and animal rescues. This will ensure our resources are focused where they are needed most.
“We have notified St John and Wellington Free Ambulance, that for the hour of the strike, career crews won’t respond to medical emergencies as they usually would – and volunteers won’t be responding to medical calls outside their patch,” he says.
For more information about Friday’s strike visit our website. This also includes a map of fire station locations.
Brendan Nally says it is very disappointing the NZPFU is going ahead with the strike on Friday despite the chance to call it off and get help to bring industrial bargaining to a conclusion.
“We asked NZPFU to make a joint application to the Employment Relations Authority for facilitated bargaining – and to withdraw their current strike notices while this went ahead.
“Disappointingly, the NZPFU has not responded to either of our requests.
“Instead they have issued further strike notices for two more one-hour full work stoppages on Friday 2 September and Friday 9 September.
“We are therefore making our own application to the Employment Relations Authority for facilitated bargaining.
“We and the NZPFU have been bargaining in good faith for more than 12 months for a new collective agreement. This has included mediation over the last four weeks, but we remain a significant distance apart.
“Mediation has effectively broken down and we’ve reached an impasse.
“We believe both parties will be unable to make further progress in the bargaining, without the assistance of the Authority.
“We also believe that bringing in an independent third party to make recommendations is the right thing to do to bring an objective lens to the situation and to ensure that we have the best chance of bringing the bargaining to a conclusion.”
“In the meantime, Fire and Emergency will continue to make best efforts to manage the impacts of strike action in a way that minimises the risk to our people and the communities we serve,” Brendan Nally says.
Facilitated bargaining is the mechanism provided for parties in bargaining to help them reach an agreement where the bargaining has been protracted but still no agreement has been able to be reached. NZPFU will be invited to respond to the Application by the Employment Relations Authority. If the application for facilitation is granted, the process results in the Authority making recommendations to the parties as to the settlement of the agreement.
