MEMBER for Western Victoria Simon Ramsay believes the state government bowing to United Firefighter Union demands will marginalise the Country Fire Authority.
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Mr Ramsay said reports on Wednesday speculated Premier Daniel Andrews would give in to the union’s request for the right to veto power over authority management.
The request is part of a firefighters enterprise bargaining agreement.
The union is seeking a 19 per cent pay rise with a $3000 for firefighters, and a policy that would make it mandatory for seven paid firefighters to attend every Country Fire Authority incident, regardless of size.
The authority’s District 17 operations manager Dale Russell told the Mail-Times in February such a request could not apply to Wimmera brigades, because there were no paid firefighters in the region.
He said attendance at fires was not an issue in the region.
Mr Ramsay said if the premier stood with the union, it showed the government was paying back the union after it opposed the Coalition at the previous state election.
“Firefighters should be well paid for their work and should be well-supported in training, resources and risk mitigation, but the union has gone a step too far,” he said.
“It appears the Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett has been sidelined in the discussion and Mr Andrews is considering caving in to the outrageous demands of the union, after months of calling the demands outrageous and expensive.
“This move, which will cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, will split the CFA in half and marginalise the volunteers.”
Mr Ramsay said the demands were ‘way out of step’ with other public sector enterprise bargaining agreements.
“The most outrageous part is that the premier is granting the union a consultative committee with the power to veto CFA management decisions, showing the union’s slow CFA takeover by stealth,” he said.
Mr Ramsay said the union requests were an attack on Victoria’s 60,000 volunteer firefighters.
“It is a disgrace that one union can, in one stroke of a pen, trash the largest, most recognisable and respected volunteer organisation in the world,” he said.
“Volunteers are furious that a union has politicised their respected brand.”