Nelson firefighters to strike Friday despite state of emergency

Nelson firefighters will strike for an hour on Friday despite the region’s state of emergency, stating “whatever happens will be on Fenz”.

The strike will see firefighters walking off the job for an hour between 11am and 12pm.

The notice of industrial action was issued on August 4 by the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) after negotiations with FENZ broke down.

Nelson senior station officer Brodie Macgregor said Nelson’s career firefighters would be participating in the planned strike action on Friday.

Macgregor acknowledged there was the potential for more slips or flooding to take place during the hour in the top of the south, but said volunteers had not been stopped from responding.

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Firefighters would answer calls up to 11am, and resume answering them at 12pm “on the dot.”

Macgregor said Fenz had been given two weeks of advanced notice before the industrial action, and deputy national commander Brendan Nally had said there were “contingency plans” for the hour.

“If they haven’t planned that is just another example of their complete disconnect, and anything that happens in that hour is on them.

“Firefighters across the country are absolutely at breaking point, and Fenz are blind to what our actual function is… to protect communities.”

NZ Firefighters union secretary Joanne ‘Wattie’ Watson said the union had attended a mediation session with Fenz last week, only to find Fenz hadn’t formulated a response as they believed there “was no point.”

Watson believed Fenz was spending time and energy prolonging bargaining rather than attempting to resolve issues.

As Fenz had already been on notice for tomorrow’s strike action, the union had “no choice” but to continue with the industrial action.

Fenz had not approached the union, nor used the week before the strike to affect change “in any shape or form” or speak to the union about potentially removing the strike, Watson said.

“Anything that happens tomorrow is at the feet of Fenz.”

Watson added that if firefighters were undertaking an emergency response at 11am on Friday, they would continue responding. If not they would strike at 11am.

In a media release, Fenz deputy national commander Brendan Nally said volunteer crews would respond “as usual” during the strike, but people in urban areas were asked to remain extra vigilant, as these were the areas primarily served by career firefighters.

“Volunteers in urban areas will respond from their own stations in their own trucks to help as they do regularly when there are multiple emergencies at one time.

“We also won’t respond to less serious incidents in urban areas during the hour of the strike. For example, private fire alarms where there is no evidence of a fire, small rubbish fires, assisting traffic management and animal rescues. This will ensure our resources are focused where they are needed most.”

St John and Wellington Free Ambulance had been notified of the strike.