The 2002 May Day celebrations are being held this Sunday, 5 May, and all FBEU members are again invited and encouraged to attend. Free T-shirts, a BBQ lunch and a few afternoon drinks will be provided for members and their families who come along for what everyone who’s been agrees has become a great firies’ day out. This Sunday is also expected to be our Union’s last major event prior to the commencement of the D&D arbitration hearing on 27 May, making this another opportunity to show Carr’s so-called “Labor” Government that firefighters remain united and ready to fight for a fair go.
Members attending the Sydney March should assemble this Sunday around 1100 hrs at the Union Office, 267 Sussex Street Sydney. We’ll then proceed on to Hyde Park North (near Archibald Fountain) to join the March, which commences at 1200 hrs.
For further May Day information, members should contact John Roach (FSD), Marty Maher (1C) or the Union Office on 92675552. The Union’s Newcastle and Wollongong Sub-Branches will also be marching this Saturday, 4 May – members should contact Mark Williams (NSB) or Mark Paloff (ISB) for local details.
D&D Update
All of the Union’s D&D evidence has now been filed, and the Government is expected to file its remaining submissions by early next week. The next stop for both parties will be the Industrial Relations Commission, with a Full Bench of the Commission having set down a full two weeks to hear the case commencing Monday, 27 May.
Further information will be circulated closer to that date, but in the interim we’ll put members on notice that a good rank and file turn up for each of the day’s hearings can only help our cause. Members are therefore encouraged to try to keep at least a day or two free over that time to attend these hearings.
As a contemporary aside, have members noticed the current doctors’ insurance controversy? When doctors saw that they were no longer insured in their work, they immediately threatened to withdraw their labour. I don’t know about you, but I’d call that a threat to strike – and they meant it. Anyway, the Howard Government folded the very next day by guaranteeing to cover the doctors’ insurance for the next 2 months at a cost of $35M.
Now it would cost a fraction of that for the Carr Government to properly insure all of our members for an entire year. I’ll leave it to members to draw your own conclusions.
The Emperor Speaks
“The Rural Fire Service is responsible for the whole of the suburb of Terrey Hills, as it is in some surrounding areas. […] The Rural Fire Service has a response time to structure house fires which is the equivalent, if not better in many circumstances, than the alternative can provide.”
