James Campbell: Long after Jane Garrett quit rather than go along with Dan Andrews on UFU demands, she’s been proved right
The misuse of the veto powers by the United Firefighters Union has been notorious for decades, and while the Allan government’s decision to finally muscle up is welcome, it comes more than 20 years too late. Jane Garrett was right.
Opinion
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Nine years after the late Jane Garrett quit as emergency services minister rather than go along with Daniel Andrews’s insistence the United Firefighters Union should be given veto over the management of the CFA, Jacinta Allan and Vicki Ward have belatedly acknowledged she was right.
In submissions in Fire Services Victoria’s wage case, the government and FRV have asked the Fair Work Commission to remove the notorious consultation clauses which have given the firefighters’ union a veto over decisions of its board and management.
The decision to finally muscle up is to be welcomed even if it is more than 20 years too late.
The misuse of the veto powers by the UFU has been notorious for decades.
Some examples are trivial – for example the time the union used it to preserve the amount of milk and margarine available to workers on lunch at tea breaks at the Thornbury workshop.
Others are serious, like the time it tried to use it to stop the MFB using discipline procedures against a senior officer charged with distributing racist and pornographic material on his work emails.
In 2008, former County Court judge Gordon Lewis told the Brumby government the power explained why it had taken more than seven years to agree on new protective clothing for the state’s firefighters.
Just last September, the state’s anti-corruption body said it had heard evidence from witnesses “the ‘consult and agree’ requirements in the EBA provided the UFU the power to veto any decision by the MFB management and Board, regardless of whether they would have a significant effect on employees.”
IBAC found that while union representation is a fundamental right of employees, “the UFU’s influence over the day-to-day operation of MFB meant the organisation was unable to function effectively and was at greater risk of corruption and misconduct.”
So two-and-a-half cheers to Allan and Ward for biting the bullet almost a decade after Jane Garrett’s warnings.
Originally published as James Campbell: Long after Jane Garrett quit rather than go along with Dan Andrews on UFU demands, she’s been proved right
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