The move follows strike action taken by the union members last week
The New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) has announced more dates for strike action, after their members walked off the job on Friday as part of the initially scheduled strikes. In a statement, the NZPFU said it will hold one-hour strikes on September 2 and 9 starting 11 am until noon.
"The NZPFU NCOM made the decision to issue further notices of strike action taking into consideration FENZ deciding there was no point meeting this week to try and work through the unresolved issues," said the union in a statement. "The bargaining dispute cannot be resolved unless both parties are in the room working on finding a way forward."
The announcement came as members of the union walked off their jobs for an hour on Friday, which was the scheduled date of the first strike action from the union.
According to the NZPFU, the strike pushed through after the Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) decided not to continue bargaining talks that week despite the union submitting a list amendment claims.
"Some of NZPFU's key claims derive from the 2018 record of settlement where it was agreed staffing issues and recognition of medical response project would be undertaken during the course of the agreement," the union explained. "That work was either not done, or if done the outcomes were not implemented. It is long overdue for FENZ to address these matters.
Read more: Firefighters to strike after rejecting collective employment agreement
"The gravity of the pending strike action wasn't enough to give the bargaining priority status or for FENZ to have any sense of urgency in costing or continuing to communicate on unresolved matters," it added.
The union further clarified that they have not walked away from bargaining, and that the strike was only because of FENZ's lack of urgency for a resolution.
"This is not a battle focused on wages. This is a fight for safe systems of work including appropriate levels of staffing and reliable trucks and equipment needed to protect the community, and to implement necessary safety, health, and wellbeing measures. FENZ cannot be left to manage the fire service into the ground," said the union in a statement.
Aside from the strikes scheduled on September, the NZPFU also has another hour-long strike action coming up on August 26.
