Upper Yarra
Mail Covering the Upper Yarra Region of the Yarra Ranges Shire
YEAR IN REVIEW What made news in 2016 Tuesday, 10 January, 2017
A Mail News Group publication
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Fireys dominated By Jodie Symonds, Kath Gannaway and Jesse Graham THE BITTER dispute between the CFA and United Firefighters Union (UFU) dominated Mail News headlines in 2016. Yarra Valley firefighters told the Mail they were at risk of becoming disenfranchised over an ongoing industrial dispute, which reached back three years. The dispute centred on the enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA), which was being argued by the UFU, the Victorian Government and the CFA. The EBA stipulates a pay deal that would affect the wages of career firefighters, working conditions and safely measures. The UFU is also demanding clauses that would affect the power balance between the UFU and the CFA, and between career (paid) and volunteer firefighters. Rejecting the UFU’s proposal, the CFA was concerned that the UFU would gain too much power over its operational decision-making processes. In response to the EBA, the Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria (VFBV) said they did not get a fair say at the Fair Work Commission when it was considering the proposal. In June, having taken a very public stand in support of CFA volunteers, and almost unprecedented stand against her own party’s position, Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett resigned from Cabinet. Premier Daniel Andrews accused Ms Garrett of refusing to support what he said was Cabinet’s proposal to end the feud. Monbulk MP and Deputy Premier James Merlino was put in as Ms Garrett’s replacement. Ms Garrett’s resignation was followed by the resignations of CFA Chief Executive, Lucinda Nolan and Chief Fire Officer, Joe Buffone.
Don Bigham and Fiona Burns with CFA crews at Wandin before the June protest convoy. 156053 Premier Andrews issued an ultimatum for the CFA board to accept the EBA before 5pm on Friday 10 June, but a Supreme Court injunction to postpone the signing was granted until Wednesday 22 June. Shortly after, the CFA board was sacked and quickly replaced. “I do not have confidence in the ability of the board to end a dispute that has gone on for far too long and to deliver the reform that the Country Fire Authority needs to keep our community safe,“ Mr Merlino said in a statement at the Cranbourne CFA in June. Brigades of volunteer firefighters saw it in a different light. In a rare show of political activism, CFA volunteer firefighters spoke out and took to the highways.
On Sunday, 26 June, and on Saturday, 2 July, firefighters from the CFA’s Upper Yarra and Maroondah districts ran convoys of fire trucks in protest against the agreement. Criticism was directed at several aspects of the agreement, including a ‘seven on the fire ground’ clause that would require seven paid firefighters to be dispatched to a fire before work could begin - though the government emphasised that volunteers would not be affected by the rule. The issue became a political football when on 22 August, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visited Coldstream Fire Station to announce changes to the Fair Work Act, in a bid to short-circuit the dispute. The amendment added an “objectionable clause” to a list in the
Picture: GREG CARRICK
legislation, meaning any enterprise bargaining agreement clauses that “undermines or limits” firefighting or state emergency services’ abilities to manage volunteers would be unlawful. “We will ensure that the federal legislation, which any agreement has to comply with, ensures, determines that your position cannot be undermined in the way that has been contemplated and proposed by the Andrews Government,” Mr Turnbull said. The legislation passed later in the year. In the meantime, Warburton CFA Captain, Hazel Clothier, was accepted as one of four volunteer fire fighters appointed to the new CFA Board. “It’s more important now than ever that CFA volunteers have a voice at the highest level of the CFA,” Cap-
tain Clothier said. In October, news outlets reported the VFBV dropping Supreme Court action over the long-running dispute, after it went to court to prevent the EBA going to a vote with concerns for volunteer firefighters. In a visit to Montrose on Thursday, 5 January, Mr Merlino said he was “disapponted“ the dispute had “not been fully resolved“, and said the CFA and MFB’s agreements were before the Fair Work Commission. “I don’t have any timelines for you in terms of when these matters will be resolved.“ While the Mail takes no sides in the dispute, the many events regarding the EBA dispute and frequency it appeared in headlines made it our Issue of the Year.
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