UFU to sue government, MFB over ‘deceptive’ firefighters’ EBA

THE Firefighters Union has claimed the state government and the MFB are deceiving its members over the content of a worker agreement, and has taken the brigade to court.

The UFU has launched legal action against the government and MFB. Picture: AAP Image/Joe Castro

THE Firefighters Union has claimed the state government and the MFB are deceiving its members over the content of a worker agreement, and has taken the brigade to court.

The United Firefighters Union has claimed a long-awaited firefighters EBA — agreed to only this month — is being deceptively altered by the government to the detriment of members.

It has launched legal action to stop the MFB and government from using the “union busting strategy” to deliver an inferior agreement to its workers to vote on.

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The legal action is another delay to the bitter industrial dispute that has plagued the MFB for more than four years.

Only on January 18 did the MFB board agree to a new EBA, which led to the resignation of the brigade’s president.

The UFU has launched legal action against the government and MFB. Picture: AAP Image/Joe Castro

The brigade had already lost two chief officers, a chief executive and several board members, with other losses from the dispute including emergency services minister Jane Garrett, the CFA board, its chief executive and chief officer.

A UFU Bulletin said the MFB was circulating an inaccurate and misleading explanatory memorandum on the agreement.

It claimed the move was a bid to “try and force a vote on an inferior agreement with a deceptive and misleading explanatory process”.

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But Emergency Services minister James Merlino said there were technical matters to be worked through by the Fair Work Commission.

“Following that, I look forward to the agreement being put to our firefighters for a vote,” he said.

An MFB spokeswoman said the brigade is working with stakeholders to get government approval for a new Enterprise Agreement.