North East volunteer firefighters are fearful they will be stopped from adequately tackling fires because of restrictions from the union.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
More than a week after district 23 firefighters joined a motorcade of 421 fire vehicles at a rally through Melbourne, there was still no resolution to the CFA and United Firefighters Union enterprise bargaining agreement.
Volunteers Fire Brigades Victoria has called on firefighters to loudly protest Premier Daniel Andrews “giving in” to UFU demands.
It stated the agreement proposed having seven paid firefighters on scene before volunteers could be called into action, which the union has denied and called “fairyland stuff”.
Eldorado volunteer Jim Buchan told The Border Mail he was unsure if his brigade would be affected by the proposal because it was not far from the Wangaratta station integrated with paid and volunteer members.
“There’s a really good working relationship there and it would be a shame to lose that,” he said.
“If there’s anything that discriminates against volunteers, that’s what we’re concerned about.”
Mr Buchan said volunteers were worried the union would have control over approving new uniforms or safety equipment.
He said the system where brigades have direct dealings with district headquarters was working well.
Ovens Valley MLA Tim McCurdy criticised Mr Andrews in parliament last week for “caving in to the city-based UFU” and said the EBA was completely unworkable.
“For a city-based union to be handed the ability to override CFA management decisions is insulting and will be disastrous for our community based firefighting service,” he said.
Wodonga and Wangaratta had only four paid staff per shift, making the seven-firefighter rule impossible.
UFU Victoria secretary Peter Marshall assured volunteers the EBA would not change the way they received equipment or force them to wait for paid CFA staff at a fire.
“That’s simply not true and whoever came up with it has a wonderful imagination,” he said.
“Someone’s gone to a lot of trouble creating this – it’s caused unnecessary anxiety to paid staff and volunteers.”
Mr Marshall said he would not comment on what was in the EBA until negotiations were complete.