CFA deal offers hope to teachers, writes Matt Johnston

FIREFIGHTERS will soon get their bonus pay backdated to August — and a $125 sport voucher for good measure. How the state’s teachers viewing this, Matt Johnston asks.

Daniel Andrews and his government have been curiously quiet about the new perks for hardworking firefighters. Picture: Hamish Blair

• Tens of millions of dollars in perks help break CFA deadlock

ON December 23, United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall lodged an audacious bid for a generous Christmas bonus for his members.

Marshall notified the Country Fire Authority that firefighters should be able to get a 19 per cent increase to all allowances, as well as new perks such as a $3000 “delayed pay increase allowance”.

The plan was to get these changes to pay and entitlements inserted into a 2010 Enterprise Barganing Agreement rather than wait until a new EBA was signed off.

UFU secretary Peter Marshall. Picture: Hamish Blair

A new EBA is in legal limbo after federal laws stopped Fair Work Commission approval, because of the EBA’s adverse impact on CFA volunteers.

Late last week, Marshall won the dispute and firefighters will soon get their bonus pay backdated to August — and a $125 sport voucher for good measure.

So, do the pay and entitlements going the way of the union without a single promise of “productivity gains” mean the battle over the Daniel Andrews-approved EBA is over?

Don’t be ridiculous!

The Premier and his government have been curiously quiet about the new perks for hardworking firefighters, despite those perks having been signed off on Friday.

Perhaps that is because this latest back-door manoeuvre, as one Labor source noted, “stinks”.

For many Victorians watching the ridiculous saga, that’s probably putting it mildly.

But I wonder how the state’s teachers are viewing this? At the moment, the education union is trying to squeeze a 21 per cent pay boost over three years out of the state government, plus a range of other changes to their work practices.

They’re now considering strike action, because negotiations have stalled.

VICTORIAN TEACHER STRIKE LIKELY AFTER EBA DISPUTE DEEPENS

How do you think teachers feel, as they watch their comrades get whatever they want from the Victorian government without even having to get a new EBA signed off?

Pretty bloody good, I reckon.

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