Argument against wage rise spurious—union

Press, 23 February 1987, Page 3

Argument against wage rise spurious—union

The argument being used to justify the Government’s position on the 3 per cent wage increase offer to fire-fighters is spurious, according to the general secretary of the South Island Fire Brigade Union, Mr Barry Dent.

He said to choose a recruitment and retention argument and ignore other sections of wagefixing legislation was devious.

“We hope they are aware that pay rates must take into account established relativities and special features of employment in the Fire Service while conditions of Employment must take account of special responsibilities or conditions applying to the Fire Service and be fair to the taxpaying public.” A threatened strike by fire-fighters has been delayed until February 26 by a High Court injunction.

Mr Dent said because there had been no relativ-

ity established for firefighters since 1975 then retention and recruitment was only one factor, and not the most important one.

“What the Government is saying is that with 85,000 people unemployed then very few State employees would be entitled to a pay rise because for every position advertised there would be hundreds of applicants and there would be no problems recruiting staff. They are saying it is necessary for the Fire Service to increase the turnover of staff from 4 per cent to the State average of 12 per cent in order to justify a pay increase for firefighters.” • It was a ludicrous argument as the loss of expertise at all levels of the Fire Service, the increased costs in training new staff, the extra overtime costs and the effect on the health and safety of fire-fighters would far outweigh benefits to the Fire Services of increas-

ing staff turnover three times, he said.

“The Treasury theorists who advise the Government in such matters should come out of their ivory towers and read the current State pay-fixing legislation to find out the reality of matters related to the conditions of employment and pay fixing for fire-fighters and all State employees.”

The Minister of State Services, Mr Rodger, said fire-fighters received generous wage increases of between 16.4 and 18.5 per cent last year and a nil offer could have been justified this year. A modest adjustment was considered warranted to maintain the recruitment and retention that existed in the Fire Service, he said.

The Press Association reported that a figure of 28.5 per cent quoted by Mr Roger earlier was the result of a typing error in Mr Roger’s office, and should have been 18.5 per cent.