Victoria's CFA board endorses pay deal to end long-running dispute
A long-running pay dispute between Victoria’s Country Fire Authority and the professional firefighters’ union has been resolved after the CFA board endorsed the controversial deal.
Eight weeks after the former board was sacked by the Victorian government for refusing to send the proposal to a vote, the new board endorsed the pay deal at the CFA headquarters in Melbourne’s east late on Friday afternoon.
Pay dispute pits Victoria's volunteer firefighters against professionals
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CFA chairman Greg Smith said that the board had “authorised the CEO to send out the proposed agreement for a vote of employees”.
He confirmed there had been changes to the enterprise bargaining agreement and a statement of mutual understanding between the United Firefighters Union and CFA had been tabled about the operational status of firefighting.
The independence of the chief fire officer would not be affected, he said.
“This has been a difficult time for the CFA,” Smith told reporters. “We believe that progressing the [enterprise agreement] is the best way forward for our organisation.”
Union demands for more pay and that seven professional firefighters should attend every CFA fire ground have proved divisive.
Volunteer firefighters feared the agreement would lead to a union takeover and diminish their role. CFA management also raised concerns that the deal would give the union veto powers over operational decisions including resourcing and equipment.
It was a major issue during the federal election campaign and threatened to undermine an emergency service that depends on volunteers in rural areas.
The pay dispute has claimed the scalps of former emergency services minister Jane Garrett, CFA chief executive Lucinda Nolan, the CFA board and CFA chief officer Joe Buffone.
They all believed the proposed deal – which the premier Daniel Andrews pushed through cabinet – gave too much power to the union at the expense of the CFA’s 60,000 volunteers.
Andrews welcomed the CFA board’s decision on Friday and said the dispute had gone on “far too long”.
Now that the deal has been endorsed, it will go to UFU members for a vote and then needs to be ratified by the Fair Work Commission.
Even if that happens, it is unlikely to be the end of the long-running saga, as the Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria is still threatening legal action after lodging an intention to extend an existing injunction on the vote.
That injunction means there cannot be a vote until the VFBV has been consulted over the deal – which it says has not occurred.
That claim is disputed by the CFA board.
Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy supported the action taken by the VFBV and slammed the CFA’s decision.
“A stitch up by the Daniel Andrews CFA board in another attack on volunteers. Andrews and his board are a disgrace,” Guy tweeted on Friday night.