Issue #334 – Wednesday, 8 June, 2016
Albury Wodonga’s largest circulating newspaper
Rotary chips in for hay run The Burrumbuttock Hay Runners have received outstanding support from community groups, individuals and organisations nationwide and last week received a substantial donation from Rotary clubs on the Border to fuel the next hay run. FULL DETAILS, PAGE 9.
Blazing passions By MONIQUE KUZEFF LIBERAL candidate for Indi Sophie Mirabella was pleased to hear of the Coalition government’s support for CFA volunteers, saying that if the United Firefighters Union (UFU) was to gain power over the CFA many volunteers would walk away. “What we see for Victoria is a union grab for power at the expense of our local CFA volunteers that will lead to high fire services levies,” Ms Mirabella said. The 60,000 volunteer firefighters who make up 97 per cent of Country Fire Authority (CFA) workforce were looking at an impending enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) that could lead to the UFU having control over CFA decisions and activities. While the EBA backing by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has volunteers deeply concerned, they were comforted by the support of Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over the weekend who pledged if re-elected to amend the Fair Work Act, to prevent the union from governing volunteers. While being a ‘non-binding’ recommendation, the EBA deal would see changes to UFU wages and work conditions giving them greater influence over decisions on CFA staffing and resource allocation if implemented. Ms Mirabella indicated those changes would not be welcomed by CFA volunteers. “That could lead to thousands of volunteers walking away from their commitment to help our communities,” Ms Mirabella said. “It will mean that the CFA Chief won’t have power over his operation. It will mean additional bureaucracy. It will mean a loss of power to the CFA volunteers to act on the grounds and employ people on a casual basis. It will mean we can’t fight fires effectively. “At a time when it’s so difficult
About 3,500 CFA volunteers and supporters rallied at Treasury Gardens in Melbourne on Sunday over an impending industrial deal with the United Picture: COURTESY OF VFBV Firefighters’’ Union. 155255 to get volunteers in any organisation, now is not the time to be doing this as a disincentive that will see our volunteer firefighters walk off the job.” Ms Mirabella said she had spoken to volunteer and career firefighters and that the majority were appalled by the possible union takeover.
“I’ve spoken to many firefighters across the board and the commitment is to keep our communities safe. “A lot of career firefighters are afraid to come out and say what they really think to support the volunteer firefighters, and I understand that, but we need to adopt commonsense and understand what is actually needed.”
The CFA is largely a volunteerbased organisation comprised of community members who are supported by employees in an integrated manner to fight fires and save homes and lives. Ms Mirabella said she recognised the volunteer firefighters’ “invaluable contributions” of their time, effort and local knowledge.
“I know through multiple fires here in the North East, the effort, the sacrifice and the local knowledge that our volunteers contribute and how important that is to saving property and saving lives. “Without our volunteers we would not have the safety we do in our communities.”
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