FENZ warns new compliance order will slow down an 'already protracted change process'
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) is facing another challenge to its restructuring plans after unions lodged a compliance order with the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) seeking to prevent the organisation from making any changes.
FENZ, in a statement, said it is preparing its responses to the case, but lamented that the challenge is slowing down a change process that its employees are already seeking a conclusion on.
"This latest ERA challenge is further slowing down an already protracted change process for our people and continuing to leave them in a position of uncertainty," FENZ acting chief executive Darryl Purdy said.
"We recognise the ERA will now be considering the case put forward by the PSA and NZPFU and we will prepare our responses accordingly. As this is an ongoing case, we will not be providing any further comment at this time."
Unions file compliance order
The compliance order, filed by the Public Service Association (PSA) and the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU), seeks to stop FENZ from pushing ahead with a restructuring plan that will impact its workforce.
This includes preventing FENZ from making any decisions, dismissing any union members, or changing the terms and conditions until it meets its obligations under the collective agreements and the law.
The new compliance order was filed months after the ERA first found in March that FENZ breached both collective agreements and its duty of good faith by failing to consult with unions about its restructuring.
The proposed restructuring would cut 97 non-firefighting roles at FENZ and significantly change 66 other positions. But the unions said that FENZ gave them only 24 hours' notice before the proposal was released during the NZPFU annual conference and while PSA bargaining was under way.
The ERA ruled in March that these were "not the actions of an employer who is being active and constructive in establishing and maintaining a productive employment relationship."
"The Employment Relations Authority has called this exactly right," said Fleur Fitzsimons, PSA national secretary, in a previous statement.
"We are firm in the view that the cuts need to be shelved permanently. If anything, at a time of rising threats from extreme and severe weather events and more complex emergencies, now is precisely the wrong time to be gutting the workforce that responds to them."
'Fundamental disagreement' with unions
FENZ said it has accepted the ERA's March determination and has undertaken significant engagement with the unions on the change in recent months.
"It was our view that the engagement process had reached a stage where the key issues had been identified, discussed, and considered by all parties," Purdy said.
However, it said it had discovered a "fundamental disagreement with some of the unions as to whether any structure change should take place at all."
"We now consider it appropriate to move forward, taking into account both the feedback received, and the organisation's assessment of the changes required," Purdy said.
