The Australian Electoral Commission's Returning Officer has today formally declared the final result of our Union's elections for the term 2009-2012. There were 6108 ballot papers issued and 1957 returned, 1918 being formal (31%).
Firefighters are still not paid sufficiently to compensate the dangers and risks we face in protecting the community. However these rates of pay have continued the trend over the last 15 years whereby our wage increases have on every occasion exceeded the rate of inflation and increased our pay relative to the cost of living.
We all owe a debt of gratitude to the unity and solidarity of all those involved in building a platform from which our Union was able to deliver the largest increase in wages in the NSW public service.
This afternoon the NSW government released its budget for the 2009/10 financial year, a budget that has been framed around a global collapse in stock markets and a massive reduction in income for our employer. The budget has projected a deficit of nearly $1 billion for the next financial year. At the same time the government has announced a raft of tax cuts for business and new home buyers. The savings generated to cover the cost of cutting the money government collects will come from slashing the money government spends. Largely this will come from cutting the wages bill of public servants like firefighters.
While this does not make up for the reduced fire coverage created by In Order 08/22, it does improve the situation for responding brigades. Bit by bit this woeful decision is being wound back and the impact on firefighters reduced.
We encourage all members to continue to make constructive suggestions for our Union to put forward to management.
1. We will fully support all members in the campaign to keep our fire stations open. We stand united to defend one another against intimidation and harassment by the government and the department.
2. We pledge to continue our community campaign to re-open our fire stations and maintain safety standards for the people of the Newcastle and Hunter region. We are prepared to take industrial action if members vote for it, and we ask the rest of our Union to consider statewide industrial action to support the campaign.
3. We demand that the Premier, Nathan Rees, stop gambling with firefighters lives, and immediately reverse his decision to shut NSW fire stations and put our communities at risk. We call for an urgent meeting with the Premier to resolve this issue.
The result of the Union’s 2009 ballot for a new State Committee of Management has been delayed until June 23rd 2009. The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) will not start counting ballots until noon on Tuesday 23rd and the result of the election may not be known until 5 pm on this day.
The decision to delay the declaration and therefore the announcement of the new full State Committee of Management comes after a number of members complained they had not received ballot papers and the AEC conducted an audit of the Union’s records. That audit established that 23 members of the Union were identified as being no more than $62 in arrears with Union dues and therefore entitled to ballot papers.
Last years wage round was amongst the most bitter and acrimonious our Union has faced in decades. Our Union was one of the first to stand up to the government and it’s ludicrous attempt to hold public sector wage increases below inflation. We were frog-marched into the NSW Industrial Relations Commission, our offer to negotiate cost saving which would deliver 2.5%, 5% and 5% was rejected out of hand and we were accused of ‘rorting’ because we made ourselves available to work more than a 40 hour week! All this while politicians themselves had received a 7% increase followed by a 6.7% increase in salary.
No government spin-doctor or bleating politician will be denying us our hard fought increases in order to save the government from accountability at the next state election.
This was a highly organized and disciplined political action that contributed to maintaining our high level of support and credibility in the community.
Hearty congratulations to all members who participated in the event and left the NSW cabinet in no doubt that closing fire brigades is simply not acceptable.
"This is an opportunity for local community groups and individuals to meet with me and my Cabinet to tell us about the issues that matter to them. I am encouraging everyone to participate - I want to hear what you have to say." Nathan Rees Premier
