All members are instructed that the relieving bans imposed by the Union at 1800 hours Friday 28th of March are lifted as at 1800 hours Sunday 30th March 2008.
The decision to lift these bans has been made after the Department called on the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) to convene an urgent hearing into the dispute on Saturday morning. As a result of the courts proceedings the Department now has been told by the IRC that the policy concerning alternate duties for retained firefighters will not be implemented until the courts have properly considered it. Accordingly all bans imposed on Friday evening in regard to out duties and relieving are lifted as at the change of shift 1800 hours Sunday.
In a disturbing change of approach from the Department the only on shift member of the Union’s State Committee of Management in the GSA was singled out and fronted by a member of senior management minutes after starting shift, then served a subpoena to appear in court two hours later. Caught totally flat-footed Comrade Reilly was then lined up against the Departments six member legal team and grilled over the Union’s bans and the Departments spurious evidence.
This entire episode was totally unnecessary and uncalled for in that the Union on two separate occasions called upon the Department not to promulgate this particular policy and instead sought to negotiate its content. Instead the Department chose to adopt a hairy-chested approach that has now completely backfired.
It is both underhanded and disingenuous after over 120 years without a policy for alternate duties for retained firefighters to pretend that this matter is too important to wait another one month before it is published. All members should be aware that this particular policy will have profound consequences for both permanent and retained members Death and Disability entitlements. The Department now needs to far more honest in the way in which it progresses changes to our Death and Disability scheme rather than seeking to undermining the integrity of existing entitlements.
Simon Flynn
State Secretar
All members are instructed that the relieving bans imposed by the Union at 1800 hours Friday 28th of March are lifted as at 1800 hours Sunday 30th March 2008. Read more…
tags |
diagnosis,
medical testing
Despite direct and repeated requests from the Union not to do so, the Department today published a new policy in In Orders 2008/07 titled “Provision of suitable duties for injured retained firefighters”. Whilst this policy might on first blush seem a reasonable and responsible management initiative, the truth is that it has serious implications for retained members’ benefits under our Death and Disability Award. Read more…
tags |
retained,
suitable duties
Following a very productive meeting between the Union and the Department both parties are now close to agreement on the content of electronic Pre-incident Plans that will allow the Union to lift its ban on e-PiP’s and will ensure that no member is forced into signing off on a document that they can be held to account for years.
While the existing ban on the use of electronic Pre-incident Plans remains in place until the Department has written back to the Union and confirmed the position reached, that agreement is expected early next week.
Simon Flynn
State Secretary
tags |
EPIP
It has come to the Union’s attention that the Department’s ‘Senior Legal Officer’ is issuing memoranda to Zone Commanders, who are in turn forwarding them to the relevant station, regarding traffic infringements by NSWFB vehicles. These are usually speed camera or red light camera infringements, which not surprisingly, are almost always triggered whilst responding under light and siren to an incident.
The Department’s Senior Legal Officer’s memo is remarkable for its ridiculously drawn out procedure. Rather than management checking with the Communications section to see of the vehicle in question was in fact responding to an incident, and then writing directly to the NSW Police Force to have the penalty notice withdrawn, the memo instead requires the driver to first jump through a number of needless hoops (including locating a JP) and sending it all back to the Senior Legal Officer within 14 days.
Frankly, these incident-related infringement’s should be dealt with by the Department without the need for our members to be involved at all. If, however, the infringement occurred other than through the course of responding to an incident (eg, when returning from a call), then the driver is liable for the infringement and does need to follow the steps set out in the memo. The point is that management can and should verify if an incident was being responded to before writing to our members.
Members who receive a Penalty Notice memo are therefore instructed to check whether the circumstances of the infringement and, provided it is certain that the infringement occurred during the course of responding to an incident under lights and siren, to ignore the Senior Legal Officer’s memo altogether. Any member who is questioned over their failure to return the requested paperwork should refer management to this notice, and contact the Union immediately.
Simon Flynn
State Secretary
tags |
fines
Most members would be now be aware that the Union has lodged a claim for increases in wages based on the decision of the Australian Industrial Relations Commissions decision in Canberra based on a ‘Work Value’ wage case handed down in March 2006. Read more…
tags |
award
Following our notice issued 14 December, the Department has stepped up its harassment of members who access their entitlement to sick leave under the Awards (permanent and retained). Read more…
tags |
medical certificates
