Public sector unions look to match generous perks in Metropolitan Fire Brigade workplace deal

PREMIER Daniel Andrews has opened the floodgates to a blowout of public sector pay and perks, as other unions seek to match aspects of a remarkable deal won by firefighters.

PREMIER Daniel Andrews has opened the floodgates to a blowout of public sector pay and perks, as other unions seek to match aspects of a remarkable deal won by firefighters.

The paramedics’ union said yesterday it would demand some of the perks in a workplace deal struck between the United Firefighters Union and Metropolitan Fire Brigade.

As revealed in the Herald Sun, the enterprise bargaining agreement grants firefighters up to 196 days’ leave a year and expands carer’s leave for immediate family to include nieces and nephews.

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In heated scenes in parliament yesterday, Mr Andrews defended the deal, which includes a 19 per cent pay rise, saying: “When you need a firefighter, you can’t pay them enough.”

His words raised concerns other emergency services unions might seek similar taxpayer-funded perks.

The Herald Sun can also report:

NEW MFB president Jasmine Doak told ABC Radio she had a family history with the ALP and had communicated with one of Mr Andrews’s former staff members about the EBA.

LABOR MP Sharon Knight lashed out at the conduct of UFU leader Peter Marshall, during a tense Labor caucus meeting. Another Labor MP urged colleagues to stay united and off the front page of newspapers.

THE MFB reported to police late last year that it believed executives’ phones and emails had been hacked and information leaked to the UFU.

UFU leader Peter Marshall. Picture: Mark Stewart

Ambulance Employees Australia state secretary Steve McGhie said “We will be looking for flexibility for paramedics in their job.”

The union would consider pushing for carers’ leave provisions to cover nieces and nephews, Mr McGhie said.

Ambulance Victoria’s current deal expires in April next year. It has about a third of the leave that firefighters can get.

“We have had some issues in the past where we’ve had to deal with employees needing leave because of members of their extended family,” Mr McGhie said.

“We would have a look at the definition of immediate family and whether it could be expanded for us.”

He said the union would look to the MFB’s new EBA and other agreements “across the trade union movement”.

Forest firefighters — who battle bushfires in public parks — will also lobby the government for improved super and disability benefits.

Australian Workers’ Union secretary Ben Davis said the union had long fought for the department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning firefighters to be treated like emergency workers.

The government says the firefighters’ deal, to be voted on by MFB staff on Friday, will cost $150 million. But sources close to the agreement believe it will be significantly more.

Critics say leave is a big issue because firefighters called to fill shifts are paid double-time, and staff who stay on shift more than an hour until a fill-in arrives are paid for four hours at double-time.

Emergency Service Minister James Merlino refused to address the deal’s “pressing necessity” leave clauses directly yesterday, but said perks were warranted because firefighting was a dangerous job.

“If you’re in a burning home and you’ve got a firefighter bashing through the door to save you and your children, do you think you care what they’re paid or what allowances they receive?” he said.

Mr Merlino said it was up to other emergency services unions to decide what they sought in their next EBAs.

He also defended ramming through the deal before a Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission report into bullying and discrimination in the fire services has been made public.

Emergency Services Minister James Merlino defended the new EBA.

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“You cannot solve culture and diversity issues that have been longstanding in our fire services for decades, you can’t solve them by words in an EBA,” Mr Merlino said.

VEOHRC’s head warned the MFB board about terms in the agreement in January.

Mr Merlino said yesterday: “You cannot solve culture and diversity issues that have been longstanding in our fire services for decades … by words in an EBA.”

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said a royal commission into Victoria’s fire services was needed.

“This is a stinking rorting mess that the Premier and the Emergency Services Minister have created and presided over, and continue to condone,’’ he said.

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