‘Gift that keeps giving’: Fire chiefs score massive pay win

Victoria’s top fire chiefs have been awarded a lucrative pay rise for “doing absolutely nothing” in a move that has been slammed.

Firefighters have won another boost to their pay with more than 300 of the state’s top brass to be paid an extra $3m a year.

Commanders and assistant chief fire officers have secured a 5.5 per cent “availability ­allowance” backdated to January 2020, while all members will receive a 2.5 per cent pay increase.

“That 5.5 per cent of a base salary of around $170,000 is pretty good for doing absolutely nothing,” one member said. “Fire Rescue Victoria is just the gift that keeps on giving. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if a claim now goes in for all firefighters to get this availability allowance.”

It is understood the allowance, for employees who are required to be available outside their normal shift, is paid even when officers are on leave and unable to respond to a job.

A government spokesman said the increases were in line with the government’s wages policy.

The spokesman said the 5.5 per cent availability allowance also ensured CFA officers who transitioned to FRV in 2020 were remunerated in the same manner as their former MFB colleagues.

Firefighters at the scene of a factory fire in South Melbourne in May. Picture: David Crosling

“Career firefighters, who risk their lives every day to keep the community safe, had not received a wage increase under applicable enterprise agreements since 2019,” she said. “We make no apologies for ensuring our hardworking firefighters are paid fairly for their incredible work.”

But Small Business Australia executive director Bill Land slammed the pay rises.

“This is classic Andrews government politics,” he said.

“Whilst instigating an unnecessarily harsh lockdown and ongoing restrictions that has given the average small business owner a pay cut in the tens of thousands of dollars a week, with little or no compensation, the Victorian government cuts a deal with the firefighters union to avoid a brawl with (UFU leader) Peter Marshall, with keeping him and his union onside critical to their re-election.

“We should not be surprised. At the height of the pandemic last year, whilst hundreds of thousands of small businesses were on the brink of bankruptcy, the Premier and his colleagues in Spring St awarded themselves a massive pay rise, also passed onto Victoria’s public servants.”

Liberal MP Brad Battin, member for Gembrook, said he had received complaints about the pay rise from FRV employees.

“At a time when Victorians are losing jobs, small businesses are closing and gyms are told they can’t operate, Labor and the United Firefighters Union continue to use the Victorian community as their personal ATM,” he said.

“Pay rises during the struggles of the pandemic are further proof this Labor state government is out of touch with how the lockdowns and their restrictions are hurting us all. Families can’t afford to continue to keep paying for Labor’s union gifts.”

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Originally published as ‘Gift that keeps giving’: Fire chiefs score massive pay win