BY FELICITY COGGAN
AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Firefighters throughout the
country are organizing a range of protest actions in
response to plans by their employer, the Fire Service
Commission, to sack its entire frontline workforce of 1,575
firefighters on July 1 and force them to reapply for their
jobs on new terms and conditions.
The Fire Service announced May 7 that only about 1,200 workers will be rehired -a 33 percent cut - and crews on fire engines will be reduced from four to three. Fewer firefighters will be rostered on overnight duty - the time when most serious fires causing deaths occur.
The firefighters were sending their job application forms back unopened, according to Professional Firefighters Union president Mike McEnaney. Protest rallies have been held in several cities alongside a nationwide petition campaign.
On May 12 firefighters from West Auckland set out on a three-day trip by fire engine to parliament to present the petition, stopping at rallies and to gather signatures on the way. The same day, a contingent of firefighters protested at parliament, then 150 crowded into parliament's public gallery during a snap debate on the issue.
On May 16 firefighters in Auckland marched to a rally being held by the Alliance party to protest privatization of city assets, where a union representative addressed the rally and about a dozen others circulated the petition. Several of these were "community safety team" members, firefighters hired on reduced pay and conditions in the face of union opposition two years ago. A majority of them have since joined the union. "They hired us to try to drive down conditions two years ago, but that has backfired. Now this is their last desperate move," one of them said.
Union secretary Derek Best said May 9 that military firefighting teams were being readied in case of protest action. When firefighters threatened to strike in 1994, military staff were trained by the Fire Service to step in and run fire stations.
Just a day before the sackings were announced, firefighters voted 87 percent in favor of striking to protest the Fire Service's refusal to negotiate a contract. Their contract expired four years ago and wages have been frozen for eight years. They were claiming a rollover of the existing contract and a 12 percent pay rise.
The Fire Service Commission claims the planned restructuring will create a more effective "modern" fire service by supposedly shifting the resources from fighting fires to prevention and public education.
Fire Service Commission chairman Roger Estall has used a spate of recent deaths, especially of small children, in house fires to justify the changes.
He argues that working people need to become less reliant on firefighters for protection from fires and look more to their own resources, such as installing smoke alarms. "We've got this public who have an enormous confidence in what we do and perhaps they should not.... We are good, we are committed, but I'm sorry we can't save you" he said.
The Fire Service Commission is funded primarily by a levy on all insured buildings, as well as a government contribution. Its budget has already been reduced by $24 million (US$ 12.7 million) in the last six years, as the government demanded better financial performance. Estall has recently come under attack from opposition members of parliament who have suggested that in his previous job as an adviser and director of an insurance brokering firm, he devised schemes to help businesses to reduce the fire levies they pay, thus depriving the Commission of substantial income.
United party member of parliament Peter Dunne, noted that while suburban fire crews were being reduced, fire services to business districts have been improved. Hamilton city, whose population has grown from 89,000 in 1979 to 116,000 today, has 56 firefighters today, compared to 72 then.
Union president McEnaney explained that after 20 years in the job he earns $42,000 a year for being in charge of a station, working two 10-hour days and two 14-hour nights per week, and six weekends out of eight. He said many firefighters worked second jobs to supplement their incomes. The starting rate is $28,000 per year. Reducing firefighter crew numbers would endanger not only the public, but also the safety of firefighters, he said.
Felicity Coggan is a member of the Engineers Union in Auckland.