By AIDAN KNIGHT

 

AMID a pivotal time in the history of Australian firefighting, the CFA has begun taking industrial action for their paid staff, working across technical and administrative departments, seeking better pay and conditions.

This is the first time the CFA has made industrial action, which will be a protected action under the Australian Services Union (ASU) VIC TAS branch, and is intended to pave the way for improvements to be made for 1200 behind-the-scenes workers, who have not received a pay rise since 2023.

While this comes at a crucial time for the authority, it is not related to the pressing matter of the Emergency Services and Volunteer Fund levy that is currently making headlines around the state, as ASU branch secretary Tash Wark said, “After more than six months of negotiations, CFA management is still refusing to come to the table with a reasonable offer.”

So while volunteer CFA firefighters have chosen to walk off the job in protest of the state wide tax, paid CFA operational staff are walking off the job in search of “respect and recognition”, as per the ASU media release on the matter.

Ms Wark cited the disparity between the workers and the authority’s management, who silently enjoyed a four per cent rise of their own last year, while only offering amid the negotiations with ASU a three per cent rise to the technical and administrative staff as per the government’s current wages policy.

“It’s an outrageous double standard, and our members have had enough,” she said.

The ASU assures the public that steps have been taken to ensure it will not affect the services provided by the CFA at ground level, despite the industrial action meaning a ban on diverting calls and emails to management, training processes and recording data. The action also involves using red font and caps lock in all internal communication.

“This is targeted, smart industrial action that does not impact the community or volunteers,” Ms Wark explained.

“It’s aimed squarely at CFA leadership.

“Our members are taking this step because they are sick of being overlooked. Their work is essential, but they’ve been disrespected and undervalued for far too long”.