MEDIA RELEASE
October 2023
ANDREWS GOVERNMENT RIPS UP ENTERPRISE BARGAINING AGREEMENT AFTER TWO YEARS OF NEGOTIATIONS AHEAD OF THE WORST FIRE SEASON SINCE THE BLACK SUMMER
After two years of negotiations, the Andrews Government has ripped up an enterprise bargaining
agreement with professional firefighters, putting their safety and working conditions at risk as Victoria
heads into what is predicted to be the worst bushfire season since the Black Summer Fires of
2019/2020.
In response, over 1,500 professional firefighters, the largest firefighter rally in Victoria’s history, will
hold a protest march in Melbourne’s city centre. Firefighters from all around Victoria and as far as
Portland, Mildura, Wodonga and Traralgon will be in attendance.
United Firefighters Union Victorian Branch Secretary Peter Marshall said that when professional
firefighters should be focusing on preparing to protect the community from another horror bushfire
season, they’ve been forced by the Andrews Government to rush to protect their safety and working
conditions.
“The 2023 bushfire season is expected to be the worst since the Black Summer Fires.
“But instead of focusing on how they will protect their communities, professional firefighters must now
rush to protect their own safety and working conditions against attacks from Fire Rescue Victoria
(FRV) Commissioner Gavin Freeman and Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes”.
“Professional firefighters have done the right thing and have been bargaining with FRV in good faith
for over two years, reaching agreement on all but two matters, which was confirmed by FRV to the
Fair Work Commission. However, FRV and the Victorian Government have reneged on the agreement before the Fair Work Commission.”
After 76 face-to-face meetings and 16 appearances before the Fair Work Commission, the Andrews
Government has ripped up the enterprise bargaining agreement in firefighters’ faces. As a result, professional firefighters’ safety and working conditions are now on the chopping block. This is the last thing professional firefighters should be thinking about as they enter another difficult bushfire season.
Mr Marshall said that this was a critical test case for the new industrial relations laws and that it was
shameful a Labor Government was using them to undermine the rights and conditions of emergency
services workers.
“The Fair Work Commission has published written statements agreeing that all matters, with the
exception of wages and allowances, were settled. The United Firefighters Union then made an application for those two matters to be arbitrated. The fact that the Andrews Government is now seeking to use this tactic to avoid the agreement reached between UFU and FRV and is attempting to use these new workplace laws to demonise professional firefighters is a disgrace.”
Mr Marshall said that the attempted torching of the enterprise bargaining agreement constituted a
deep betrayal of firefighters and the communities they protected.
“Instead of supporting professional firefighters as they confronted the coming bushfire season, FRV
Commissioner Gavin Freeman and Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes have stabbed them in
the back and have thrown two years of hard work into the flames. Professional firefighters feel let down and betrayed by an organisation and government that’s supposed to have their backs.”
Mr Marshall said that this latest move to undermine professional firefighters’ safety and working
conditions coincided with the Andrews Government’s disturbing refusal to prepare Victoria for the
coming high-risk bushfire season.
“The Andrews Government has refused to replace outdated trucks, left fire stations in disrepair,
refused to update cancer laws, slashed funding for aerial firefighting resources and stripped essential
bushfire safety advertising from both The Age and Herald Sun.
“These facts, in addition to the attack on the safety and working conditions of frontline professional
firefighters, illustrate just how reckless the Andrews Government has become with firefighter and
community safety. We call on the Andrews Government to provide professional firefighters with the respect they deserve and deliver a fair enterprise bargaining agreement for workers who put their lives on the line every day to protect the community.”
Media Contact: Darren Rodrigo 0414 783 405
UFU Secretary Peter Marshall is available for comment and interview.
FACT SHEET – ENTERPRISE BARGAINING AGREEMENT NEGOTIATIONS NUMBER OF BARGAINING MEETINGS
- From July 2020 to 26 April 2022, there were at least 32 bargaining meetings.
- From 26 April 2022 to the end of 2022, there have been a further 32 bargaining
meetings. This includes bargaining meetings between UFU and FRV representatives
alone. - This year, a further 12 bargaining meetings were held.
That is a total of 76 bargaining meetings since 2020.
Bargaining for this Enterprise Agreement has also been the subject of two s. 240
Applications – the UFU’s Application in 2021 (B2021/1057) and FRV’s Application in 2022
(B2022/1676) of which: - 6 Conferences were held before Commissioner Wilson in B2021/1057; and
- Over 10 Conferences have been held before Commissioner Wilson in B2022/1676.
AGREEMENT ON BARGAINING MATTERS
On 3 February 2023, Commissioner Wilson issued a FWC Statement (now superseded)
stating that the parties had “reached agreement on all but ten issues”.
On 19 June 2023, Commissioner Wilson issued a further FWC Statement with the
agreement of UFU and FRV to state as follows:
“Bargaining has progressed very well to the point that the UFU and FRV now report
that since the last conciliation conference held on 27 April 2023, all outstanding
matters have been resolved, save for the matter of an offer for increases to wages
and related monetary allowances.”
As a result of Commissioner Wilson’s Statement on 19 June 2023, and based on the
agreement between UFU and FRV, the UFU made an application for wages and allowances
to be arbitrated by the FWC, given that all other matters were agreed upon.
Ten days after the UFU made such an application, FRV attempted – as a tactic – to renege
on the agreement and have all matters arbitrated, resulting in an attack on all firefighters’
conditions – including firefighter safety and safe staffing levels that ensure community
protection.