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Sitrep 19/2023: Award negotiation update

April 4, 2023

Fix Our Fire Service Industrial Campaign and Code Reds Continue

As we advised in our last sitrep to members, today the FBEU and FRNSW met again for Award negotiations. You might recall that as part of the outcome of FRNSW’s dispute over our industrial campaign and Code Reds, we agreed that the Code Reds would expire at 4pm today unless otherwise notified, pending the outcome of that meeting.

Unsurprisingly, given the new Government is yet to swear in its Ministers etc, FRNSW are not in a position to make any new offers in relation to Award negotiations. While we hope this position will change as negotiations progress under a new wages policy, until then we must ensure that we continue to spread our message about the current state of Fire and Rescue.

Therefore, we are today confirming that the updated Code Reds issued on 24 March 2023 will remain in place until further notice. To remind you all the Code Reds are as follows:

  1. Effective immediately members are hereby instructed to immediately cease wearing FRNSW issued duty-wear shirts/T-shirts while performing any work or duties for FRNSW and are instead to wear union and/or industrial campaign t-shirts if you have one.
  2. Effective immediately members are hereby instructed to use washable chalk and/or other removable materials such as banners, posters, flags etc to display Union, industrial and/or campaign related material on FRNSW appliances, vehicles and premises.
  3. Effective immediately members are hereby instructed to not adhere to any direction to remove Union, industrial and/or campaign related materials and slogans from FRNSW premises and vehicles including emergency response vehicles until the Code Reds are lifted. At such time removal of this material should be undertaken outside of working hours.
  4. Effective immediately all members are hereby instructed to not comply with any policy, order, instruction, direction or any other such communication from FRNSW which restricts your ability to speak freely to members of the public and or on social media regarding issues relating to the fire service and the industrial campaign. These activities should be undertaken outside of working hours.

For further information/resources on these Code Reds please refer to the info sheet and/or the resources page on our website.

We should all be extremely proud of our efforts to date in implementing these Code Reds. It is clear as I drive around the City and Regionally, past our fire stations and trucks, that you all have taken up the call to communicate the Fix our Fire Service message in the creative way that only we, as firefighters, can communicate it.

As reminder though, please make sure that we continue to only display material and messaging that is focused on the health and safety and industrial issues in our workplace as they relate to our Fix Our Fire Service Industrial Campaign and the Award Log of Claims. It goes without saying that no material should contain any offensive or inappropriate language.

Further, again, a reminder that no material should be displayed on painted surfaces of vehicles.

Lastly, as per previous notifications, if at any time while taking these actions any member is concerned that participating in the actions in compliance with the code reds poses any risk to you, a colleague and/or a member of the community, you should immediately cease taking the action and contact the FBEU directly for further instruction.

We will continue to update members as soon as we can regarding Award negotiations with the parties due back in the IRC for further conciliation on Monday 17 April.

In the meantime, if you receive any direction or instruction to not comply with the Code Reds as issued today, you should politely decline and contact either your SCOM representative or the FBEU office immediately for further advice.

In Unity,


Leighton Drury
State Secretary

To download a printable version of this Sitrep, click here.

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