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CFA union dispute: Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett may quit over Premier’s union deal

LATEST: CFA volunteers will rally tomorrow as the Emergency Services Minister is on the brink of quitting over the Premier’s CFA pay dispute deal.

THE Andrews Government is in full-blown crisis with Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett on the brink of quitting cabinet over the Premier’s determination to ram through a deal to end the CFA pay dispute, which has enraged the state’s volunteer firefighters.

An emergency meeting of a cabinet subcommittee called yesterday afternoon to ratify the proposed deal handed down by the Fair Work Commission earlier this week, later broke up in disarray with members unable to reach a clear decision.

Several sources said that while the sentiment of the meeting was to support the deal, which has lit a fire storm of anger among the CFA’s 60,000 volunteer firefighters, Ms Garrett had not been the only one to speak against it and that no formal agreement had been reached.

And as the Premier looks set to fly home into the political crisis, an emergency mass rally to protest the looming deal between Daniel Andrews and the United Firefighters Union is being organised in Melbourne this weekend.

The Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria issued a call this morning for CFA volunteers and concerned Melburnians to join the mass gathering at a location yet to be revealed at 1pm on Sunday.

The event is expected to attract thousands of volunteers and community members who fear a draft UFU Enterprise Bargaining Agreement will be accepted by the Government and will decimate the culture of the fire fighting agency.

Organisers hope the public demonstration will send a strong message to Premier Daniel Andrews, to not fold to the UFU’s demands, when he returns from an American tour on early Monday morning.

In April, hundreds of angry CFA volunteers dressed in uniform and driving fire engines brought the CBD to a standstill to protest the Andrews Government’s planned cave-in to union demands.


In a sign of how badly the government is split over the deal, the two sides cannot even agree on how much it will cost.

According to some government sources the Department of Treasury and Finance had costed the proposed EBA at no more than $160 million, while the CFA has costed it at $1.2 billion.

One source said the figure of $160 million had only been reached by accepting a verbal assurance from the United Firefighters Union that it would not activate all the clauses in the agreement.

Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett may resign over the CFA dispute. AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy
Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett may resign over the CFA dispute. AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy

This is rejected by the deal’s supporters. The issue will now be debated at a Cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon.

During the meeting Ms Garrett told the committee she had legal advice that the Emergency Services Minister does not have the power to order the board of the CFA to sign the deal.

Sources within the CFA later told the Herald Sun they were in possession of similar advice, which would be presented to the CFA board when it meets on Monday morning.

CFA chief executive Lucinda Nolan will return from leave in Europe this weekend to present at that meeting, which is expected to formally reject the terms of the deal.

During yesterday’s meeting of the policy and strategy budget committee, sources present told the Herald Sun that pressure was placed on Ms Garrett to front a press conference saying the government supported the deal But Ms Garrett refused to do so. Several senior Labor sources said they now expected Ms Garrett to resign.

james.campbell@news.com.au

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Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/cfa-union-dispute-emergency-services-minister-jane-garrett-may-quit-over-premiers-union-deal/news-story/9620d1e2629595cc304b5e52ee9ed2b1