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Added info about NSW split following suggestion to rephrase
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- UFU Tasmania
- UFU Tasmania


- UFU Queensland<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=|title=Firefighters union splits over leader|last=|first=|date=9/8/2010|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref>
- UFU Queensland


- UFU Victoria
- UFU Victoria


- UFU WA
- UFU WA
== NSW Split ==
Although instrumental in forming the UFUA, following a dispute over fees being levied by the National Office, the NSW Fire Brigades Employees Union (FBEU) restarted as an independant body and had won over 85 percent of all NSW paid firefighters by 9/8/2010 <ref name=":0" />. The dispute was at the same time as a challenge to Peter Marshall's position as secretary, by Jim Casey, secretary of the FBEU, who acknowledged that both men had been in dispute for 'some time' <ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Fireys quit their national union|last=|first=|date=9/8/2010|work=The Australian|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref> and was quoted in the same article saying "The national leadership has not delivered for NSW firefighters at any time in it's history". Peter Marshall was quoted <ref name=":0" /> describing the dispute as 'an internal union matter". The dispute went to the federal court, but was unable to be resolved (uncited). The UFUA currently lists a debt of over $250,000 in it's annual reports, described as being directly linked to the non payment of membership dues by the NSW branch. Since then "According to the Fair Work Commission’s website, there were 6,250 members of the UFUA’s NSW Branch as at 30 June 2009. This had collapsed to only 3 (three) members by 30 June 2015, on which date there were 6,214 members of the FBEU."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fbeu.net/ufua/|title=UFUA {{!}} FBEU|website=fbeu.net|access-date=2017-09-06}}</ref>


== Victorian EBA dispute ==
== Victorian EBA dispute ==

Revision as of 23:41, 6 September 2017

United Firefighters Union of Australia
Founded1 August 1990
Members13,000+
Websitewww.ufua.asn.au

Officially registered on 1 August 1990, the United Firefighters Union of Australia now represents over 13,000 paid firefighters.[1]

Branches of the United Firefighters Union of Australia are as follows:

- UFU ACT

- UFU Aviation

- UFU SA

- UFU Tasmania

- UFU Queensland[2]

- UFU Victoria

- UFU WA

NSW Split

Although instrumental in forming the UFUA, following a dispute over fees being levied by the National Office, the NSW Fire Brigades Employees Union (FBEU) restarted as an independant body and had won over 85 percent of all NSW paid firefighters by 9/8/2010 [2]. The dispute was at the same time as a challenge to Peter Marshall's position as secretary, by Jim Casey, secretary of the FBEU, who acknowledged that both men had been in dispute for 'some time' [3] and was quoted in the same article saying "The national leadership has not delivered for NSW firefighters at any time in it's history". Peter Marshall was quoted [2] describing the dispute as 'an internal union matter". The dispute went to the federal court, but was unable to be resolved (uncited). The UFUA currently lists a debt of over $250,000 in it's annual reports, described as being directly linked to the non payment of membership dues by the NSW branch. Since then "According to the Fair Work Commission’s website, there were 6,250 members of the UFUA’s NSW Branch as at 30 June 2009. This had collapsed to only 3 (three) members by 30 June 2015, on which date there were 6,214 members of the FBEU."[4]

Victorian EBA dispute

For many years, the UFU has been in dispute[5] with both the Metropolitan Fire Brigade and the Country Fire Authority over paid fire fighters employment terms. The last Enterprise Agreements with the MFB and CFA expired in September 2013 and the UFU has been in dispute with the employers since that time. The dispute has continued over two changes of government. The dispute came to a head in 2016 when the ALP Victorian Government, which had previously supported the employers' position that the UFU claims were unreasonable and unworkable, changed its position to support the UFU claims. The incumbent Minister for Emergency Services Jane Garrett [6] resigned from her position stating she was unable to support the UFU claims. Subsequently the CFA Board was sacked by the new Minister (and Deputy Leader of the Opposition) James Merlino MP for refusing to sign the proposed Enterprise Agreement. The CFA CEO at the time, Lucinda Nolan, subsequently resigned[7] rather than follow directions of the newly appointed Board to sign the EA, as did the Chief Officer Joe Buffone only weeks later, reportedly also due to objections over the proposed enterprise agreement, although there were some allegations he had requested higher pay. [8]

Issues with the EA proposed by the UFU ranged from impacts on volunteers to over-writing powers of the Chief Officers of the MFB and CFA under their Acts (Metropolitan Fire Brigades Act 1958[9] and Country Fire Authority Act 1958[10]. There were also concerns relating to discrimination and illegal clauses within the proposed EA. A comprehensive table of objections was posted by the CFA Board before it was sacked.[11][12] These were supplemented by a comprehensive table of objections by the Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria, citing a range of issues impacting volunteers that would require volunteer consultation on the Enterprise Agreement, a view the UFU objected to strongly.[13]

Recently a divisive spilt of the victorian fire services was proposed by the Andrews Labour government to attempt to solve the dispute. The legislation is currently stalled in the Victorian Legislative Assembly following an inquiry . Currently, no EBA has been presented to Fair Work Australia for ratification, although many opinions have been sought. During the Australian Federal Election 2016, a promise was made to add a hurdle to the legislation, requiring that any EBA, for emergency organisations that also had volunteers, must not interfere with the organisation being able to manage their volunteers. The Victorian SES has recently endorsed an EBA for their operational members that satisfied the requirements of this legislation, but the fire services have as yet been unable to achieve this same outcome. Due to the way industrial relations have been referred in every state except Victoria, the legislation currently only applies to Victorian Emergency Services.

References

  1. ^ "History of the United Firefighters Union of Australia". United Firefighters Union of Australia. 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  2. ^ a b c "Firefighters union splits over leader". The Sydney Morning Herald. 9/8/2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  3. ^ "Fireys quit their national union". The Australian. 9/8/2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  4. ^ "UFUA | FBEU". fbeu.net. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
  5. ^ dispute
  6. ^ "Jane Garrett". Wikipedia. 2017-06-28.
  7. ^ "Former CFA chief Lucinda Nolan quit over 'destructive and divisive' EBA". ABC News. 2016-09-06. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
  8. ^ "Former CFA chief officer stands by decision to resign". ABC News. 2016-09-06. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
  9. ^ "MFB Act 1958" (PDF). {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  10. ^ "Act and regulations - Country Fire Authority". Country Fire Authority. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
  11. ^ [1]
  12. ^ [2]
  13. ^ [3]
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