MFB board meet to consider the latest workplace agreement offer from the United Firefighters Union
THE Metropolitan Fire Brigade board has met to consider a fresh workplace agreement proposal as it is “lent on” to strike a deal before Christmas.
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THE Metropolitan Fire Brigade board has met to consider a fresh workplace agreement proposal as it is pressured to strike a deal before Christmas.
The six-member board met late on Friday afternoon to go over new demands put to it “recently” by the United Firefighters Union.
Pressure has mounted on the MFB over the past fortnight to approve the new deal.
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The Herald Sun understands that the fire service and union have agreed on pay rises.
But they are at odds over the control of operational decisions and whether the UFU would have veto powers.
Former MFB chief officer Peter Rau penned an explosive letter to Emergency Services Minister James Merlino last year that said the brigade would not sign off on “consult and agree provisions”.
The provisions require the UFU to approve operational matters and have hamstrung the brigade, including by preventing it from moving equipment between stations.
Friday’s meeting comes after the UFU made moves to realign itself with Premier Daniel Andrews’s Socialist Left faction.
One source said the pressure on the MFB intensified when the UFU first sought the move but had become “insurmountable” since it was ratified this week.
The UFU told its members on Tuesday that the situation had become “untenable”.
“Although some outcomes including pay increases and allowances have been delivered, in the lead-up to what is expected to be a terrible fire season, Victoria’s career fire-fighters remain unprotected with a lack of clarity in their conditions of employment,” the UFU said.
Several key MFB figures, including former acting chief officer Paul Stacchino, chief executive Jim Higgins and board members, have all departed amid a crisis in the state’s fire services.
The chaos also claimed former emergency services minister Jane Garrett who, in opposition to the Premier, refused to back a new enterprise agreement with the CFA.
That controversial deal gave the UFU 50 veto powers.