The firefighting crisis rocking the Andrews government has been thrown into further
turmoil with the CFA board declaring that it cannot sign the proposed pay and work deal with the union.
The decision, following a board meeting on Monday morning, will place further pressure on Premier Daniel Andrews to compromise on the pay deal with the United Firefighters Union which he has been backing.
The CFA board meeting happened as Mr Andrews met with his embattled Emergency Services Minister, Jane Garrett, who is understood to be considering quitting over the whole saga.
Advertisement
Ms Garrett is opposed to the pay deal, supporting the CFA in their view that it is expensive and unworkable.
A spokesman for the CFA said that the authority had sought legal advice, which confirmed serious concerns about the enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA).
The spokesman said it is now seeking advice from senior counsel about how to act.
"We have serious concerns many of these proposed clauses are unlawful and we have legal advice that indicates CFA would be in breach of its statutory obligations," the spokesman said.
Central to the board's concerns are:
Advice from the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission that the EBA does do not comply with the Equal Opportunity Act and would be unlawful.
Clauses that provide the union with the power to veto operational decisions, which would mean the authority would be in contravention of state law.
The CFA board, which was sacked on Friday night, issued a statement on Monday saying its members were “deeply disappointed” by the government’s decision to remove them.
“This board remains prepared to continue negotiating with the UFU as we have attempted to do in the past week without response,” members said in a statement.
“Fair Work may have made recommendations, but the Fair Work process does not consider CFA’s organisational legislation, nor its 97% volunteer workforce.”
The board thanked Garrett, who resigned after refusing to vote for the government’s proposed workplace agreement.
James Merlino, the emergency services minister who replaced Garrett and sacked the CFA board late on Friday, said the establishment of a consultative committee would bring a “fresh start”.
“Now, sure, there is a process we need to go through,” Merlino said on Saturday. “There will be a new board; there will be a vote of our firefighters in regards to the EBA.
“But the position of the government is crystal clear. We ended the dispute yesterday.”
However, a supreme court injunction issued on Friday prevents the board from approving the new enterprise bargaining agreement before 22 June.
The decision, following a board meeting on Monday morning, will place further pressure on Premier Daniel Andrews to compromise on the pay deal with the United Firefighters Union which he has been backing.
The CFA board meeting happened as Mr Andrews met with his embattled Emergency Services Minister, Jane Garrett, who is understood to be considering quitting over the whole saga.
Advertisement
Ms Garrett is opposed to the pay deal, supporting the CFA in their view that it is expensive and unworkable.
A spokesman for the CFA said that the authority had sought legal advice, which confirmed serious concerns about the enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA).
The spokesman said it is now seeking advice from senior counsel about how to act.
"We have serious concerns many of these proposed clauses are unlawful and we have legal advice that indicates CFA would be in breach of its statutory obligations," the spokesman said.
Central to the board's concerns are:
Advice from the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission that the EBA does do not comply with the Equal Opportunity Act and would be unlawful.
Clauses that provide the union with the power to veto operational decisions, which would mean the authority would be in contravention of state law.
The CFA board, which was sacked on Friday night, issued a statement on Monday saying its members were “deeply disappointed” by the government’s decision to remove them.
“This board remains prepared to continue negotiating with the UFU as we have attempted to do in the past week without response,” members said in a statement.
“Fair Work may have made recommendations, but the Fair Work process does not consider CFA’s organisational legislation, nor its 97% volunteer workforce.”
The board thanked Garrett, who resigned after refusing to vote for the government’s proposed workplace agreement.
James Merlino, the emergency services minister who replaced Garrett and sacked the CFA board late on Friday, said the establishment of a consultative committee would bring a “fresh start”.
“Now, sure, there is a process we need to go through,” Merlino said on Saturday. “There will be a new board; there will be a vote of our firefighters in regards to the EBA.
“But the position of the government is crystal clear. We ended the dispute yesterday.”
However, a supreme court injunction issued on Friday prevents the board from approving the new enterprise bargaining agreement before 22 June.
No comments:
Post a Comment