News

SitRep 19/2019

September 5, 2019

 

UPDATE ON HFSV DISPUTE – BANS STILL IN PLACE

The bans on Home Fire Safety Visits are still in place as the dispute remains in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.

The dispute was listed for hearing on 2 September 2019 before Commissioner Constant. On the last occasion we were before her, FRNSW asked for leave to file more evidence specifically relating to the numbers of reactive and proactive HFSVs from the last financial year. That is, they were going to file more evidence about how many of the 11000 HFSV were conducted by cold calling. We have been saying to the Commission that there has been virtually no cold calling and the 11000 has been made up of firies being invited to homes. The evidence filed about this by FRNSW indicates that cold calling was very low.

FRNSW have filed evidence about how much training firies have had on how to conduct home fire safety visits, how much consultation there has been with the Union and how they have invited the Union to participate in the drafting of the policies and procedures. Commissioner Constant has given the Union the opportunity to respond to this evidence by Monday 9 September 2019.

The Union remains committed to trying to resolve this matter and is prepared to work with FRNSW to increase the number of HFSV, without compromising the safety of our members.

 

EMERGENCY SERVICES ALLIANCE 

 

As reported in SitRep 9/2019 (https://fbeu.net/2019/06/07/sitrep-09-2019/) we have been working with other emergency services unions to find ways we can work together and support each other to win.

We work beside each other in our communities all the time and the Emergency Services Alliance is really about working together as unions and workers. We have lots of shared issues including: workplace health and safety, respect for our jobs and services, and of course the common interests we share about the services we work on the frontline to deliver in our communities.

This week Leighton Drury attended a panel and press conference with other union leaders to talk about the emerging Alliance and our need to work together when and where we can. While not all our issues are shared, many are: including those affecting our direct industrial interests like budgets and state wage polices.

We will continue to work with other workers both within the Alliance and beyond to support improvements in our jobs and services. The Emergency Services Alliance will be holding a meet and greet event for local emergency service workers in Dubbo on September 19. If you would like more information about that event contact organiser Max (mmurphy@fbeu.net). There are plans for more events, including regional ones in the coming months – and we’ll link members up to be involved wherever the opportunity arises.

Frontline emergency services workers are best placed to speak about the needs of our communities and the roles we play in our communities across the State.

In our recent member survey we asked if you knew other public sector and emergency service workers and if you speak with those you know about your pay and conditions and work – and you sure do. The Alliance will give us an opportunity to include the discussions you already have with those you know in decision making for our union and in support of other unions.

We’ll include any Alliance events and activities in SitReps and organiser visits as we continue to roll out visits and meetings across the State.

 

ON THE ROAD

 

Organiser Max Murphy, has been out these past 2 weeks visiting stations in MW1, MW2 and MS3 to meet with members and help identify workplace delegates. It was a great opportunity to allow members to have a think about who in their station would be best placed to represent them as station delegate, and to answer any questions they may have had about the role. Max was joined by Bob Callow from SCOM in MW1 and there was a great reception from the members at these stations.

Max is aiming to visit all of MW1 and MS2 by next week and while this won’t be the last visit, feel free to touch base with him if you have any questions or if you weren’t on shift when he visited on 0408617217.

Georgie was excited to visit The Entrance on Tuesday night and Neutral Bay on Thursday morning. It was a fantastic chance to have a chat about our new organising structure and how we will be getting organised in the workplace. Georgie is extremely grateful for the honest answers you all provided and enjoyed the open discussions that you had. Both the Retained and the Permanent members are bringing up the issue of quality training as well as progression opportunities. These workplace meetings that are starting to take off across the State will be fantastic opportunities for you all to continue raising these concerns and sharing them with our organisers so that we can keep track of them.

Similar to Max, Georgie is getting around to her stations and will be in touch with the station reps as soon as possible. If you’d like to reach out and organise a time sooner rather than later, Georgie can be contacted on 0417 924 151 or gslater@fbeu.net.

Emily is excited to be heading to the Illawarra in a few weeks time and having a chat with everyone down there. We have sent out an email with the dates and times to all of our listed members that live or work in the Illawarra so that travellers have the opportunity to attend. Please give the office a call if you haven’t received this email and we can provide you with the details.

 

RETAINED

 

It has been fantastic for our organisers to get out on the road and meet with some Retained stations over the last couple of weeks. We are slowly starting to make our way around the State and getting in contact with you all. We’ve appreciated your conversations regarding the issues that are facing you in the workplace and we are really excited to see you all get your meetings up and running so that we can have a better understanding of the issues that are facing our retained membership. If your station hasn’t heard from an organiser yet, please get your station delegate to call the office so they can be in touch.

 

 

Leighton Drury

State Secretary

You can download a copy of this SitRep here.