Rebel group wins control of NSW firefighter union election

The winner of a heated battle for control of NSW’s fire brigade union has been settled, with the underdog coming out on top.

Leighton Drury. Picture: Jane Dempster

A rebel faction has won control of the powerful NSW fire brigade union, promising to fight for a 13 per cent wage increase that will put it on a collision course with the Berejiklian government.

The reign of state secretary Leighton Drury came to an end at a vote on Friday, seeing an insurgent group led by Kogarah firefighter Shane Kennedy rise to power.

Mr Kennedy’s group, called Member’s First, guaranteed to build a “strong and respected Union” in contrast to the current leadership they claimed was “going backwards”. The hero promise of Mr Kennedy’s campaign was a 13 per cent wage increase for firefighters to bring them up to the pay rates of their Western Australian counterparts.

State firefighters received only a 0.3 per cent wage increase in 2020 — the worst in 30 years.

Public sector wages are capped at 2.5 per cent a year for the state. The NSW government cut that to zero last year due to the pandemic, before the state industrial commission ultimately ruled on a 0.3 per cent boost for fireys.