FENZ's proposed restructuring plan challenged at ERA

Two unions took Fire and Emergency New Zealand to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) on Thursday, accusing the agency of consultation lapses in its proposed restructuring plan.  

The Public Service Association (PSA) and the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) argued that FENZ excluded them in the planning process and then dumped a 265-page proposal on workers with just 10 days to respond.  

"This was not consultation, it was a tick-box exercise designed to ram through cuts regardless of the consequences for public safety. This was all about saving money, not saving lives," said PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons.  

FENZ's proposed restructuring  

The FENZ's restructuring plan, announced in November, will cut 97 non-firefighting roles and significantly change 66 others, according to the unions.

FENZ CEO Kerry Gregory said last year that the plan was about ensuring that the agency is "best positioned to deliver a modern and responsive emergency service."  

But the unions accused Gregory of sending an error-riddled restructure document to the unions after close of business on November 11, with some pages initially missing and at least 24 substantive errors identified.  

And less than half an hour before the embargo expired the next day, Gregory sent hundreds of additional pages, according to the unions.  

"You can't consult on a near-completed plan full of errors that was prepared in a process from which you completely excluded the very people the law requires you to involve," Fitzsimons said.  

"That's not how good faith works, and it's certainly not how you protect public safety."  

The unions are calling on the ERA to restrain FENZ from making any decision about the plan until proper consultation has occurred.  

It also asked the ERA to determine that the agency breached collective agreement obligations, violated good faith requirements, and undermined the ongoing collective bargaining agreement.  

Prior to the hearing on Thursday, FENZ said it looked forward to a productive conversation about the consultation clause in its collective employment agreements, Radio New Zealand reported.  

"We will continue to engage with the unions and associations through the process," Gregory said.