As SMART rolls out to more zones, members continue to provide feedback on both the availability and timesheet functions. The Union will meet again with management to discuss and resolve members’ concerns, including the system:
bombarding members with numerous text messages day and night from multiple phone numbers;
not displaying members’ attendance figures, making it difficult to self-monitor;
preventing entry of some authorised absences (eg time for travel to and from training);
causing signing off to take too long due to multiple entries and internet delays;
making the entry of multiple fire calls within an hour complicated and prone to error;
not calculating and showing your cumulative income for that pay period;
not allowing members to self-correct errors after signing off;
placing non-agreed caps on the amount of authorised duties payable;
not paying members who declare as ‘unavailable’ and who then attend an incident unless/until they explain why they responded to the call.
Members with further concerns should email office@fbeu.net. More on this next week.
The Union has been able to renegotiate and/or reconfirm the arrangements at Perisher prior to this winter’s deployment (the Department is expected to call for EOI’s next week) and these are set out and explained in the correspondence attached here. There is one notable exception, with the minimum payments for recalls remaining in dispute after the Union rejected the Department’s push for a reduction from 4 hours to 2 hours. The Union has proposed further discussions on this next week and referral, if necessary, to the IRC for resolution. More to follow.
In brief…
As foreshadowed in SITREP 9, this week’s Commissioner’s Orders 2016/6 called for applications from permanent members for vacant firefighter positions in MN3 and Broken Hill as a final step before local retained recruitment and the clearing of the Maitland General Transfer Register.
341 Kariong will move to 24/7 permanent staffing, and 292 Doylason to SR, at the start of the next 8 week roster cycle on Friday 13 May.
Ballots, if needed, for the current Sub-Branch elections will close 5pm Saturday (not Friday) 16 April.
This year’s Rex Threlfo Annual Toast will be held on Tuesday 19 July – tickets on sale shortly.
Darin Sullivan
President and Acting State Secretary
For a printable copy of this SITREP, please click here.
