CFA board endorses Victorian pay deal

A controversial wage deal has been agreed eight weeks after the former board’s sacking.

The Country Fire Authority’s board has backed a controversial wage deal for Victorian firefighters.

Eight weeks after the former board was sacked by the Victorian government for refusing to send the proposal to a vote, the new hand-picked board endorsed the pay deal at the CFA headquarters in East Burwood on Friday.

It originally met on Monday but could not come to an agreement. CFA chairman Greg Smith told waiting media on Friday night that the board had “authorised the CEO to send out the proposed agreement for a vote of employees”.

He confirmed there had been changes to the EBA and a statement of mutual understanding between the union and CFA about the operational status of the agreement was in place.

The independence of the chief fire officer would also not be affected, he said.

“This has been a difficult time for the CFA,” Mr Smith told reporters.

“We believe that progressing the EA is the best way forward for our organisation.” Volunteer firefighters feared the agreement would lead to a union takeover and diminish their role.

CFA management also raised concerns that the deal would give the union veto powers over operational decisions including resourcing and equipment.

Premier Daniel Andrews welcomed the CFA board’s decision to endorse the EBA after a dispute that’s gone “far too long”.

He said the deal contained safeguards to protect the role of volunteer firefighters and enhance the diversity of the workforce. “It is clear there needs to be a fundamental culture shift in the CFA and there is a real opportunity to address these challenges,” Mr Andrews said in a statement.

The pay dispute has claimed the scalps of former emergency services minister Jane Garrett, CFA chief executive Lucinda Nolan, the CFA board and CFA chief officer Joe Buffone.

They all believed the proposed deal — which the premier pushed through cabinet — gave too much power to the union at the expense of the CFA’s 60,000 volunteers.

Now that the deal has been endorsed, it will go to United Firefighters Union members for a vote and then needs to be ratified by the Fair Work Commission.

Even if that happens, it’s unlikely to be the end of the long-running saga, as the Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria is still threatening legal action in the Supreme Court after lodging, on Wednesday, an intention to extend an existing injunction on the vote.

That injunction means there can’t be a vote until the VFBV has been consulted over the deal — which it says has not occurred. That claim is disputed by the CFA board.

Opposition leader Matthew Guy supported the action taken by the VFBV and slammed the CFA’s decision.

“A stitch up by the Daniel Andrews CFA board in another attack on volunteers. Andrews and his Board are a disgrace,” Mr Guy tweeted on Friday night.

AAP