VOLUNTEER Fire Brigades Victoria state councillor Maurice Dumesny believes it will be a sad day for Wimmera volunteers if the state government approves a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Hundreds of Victoria's rural and suburban firefighters converged on Melbourne at the weekend to protest United Firefighter Union demands they feared would marginalise volunteers.
Wimmera volunteers were among those who attended.
The rally followed speculation Premier Daniel Andrews had struck a deal with the union that would give it significant control of Country Fire Authority operations.
The union is seeking a 19 per cent pay rise for firefighters, and a policy that would make it mandatory for seven paid firefighters to attend every Country Fire Authority incident, among other things.
Mr Dumesny said the district did not have any paid firefighters, but that was likely to change in future.
“There is no doubt that will eventually come for the bigger areas like Horsham, Warracknabeal, Edenhope and Nhill,” he said.
“But it might be four or five years down the track.
“I think it’s a numbers game.
“Daniel Andrews promised an extra 300 firefighters prior to the election, and that union firefighters would get positions in the field.
“But there was no allowance given to stations in Victoria to house these new firefighters.”
Mr Dumesny said the union had also made bold demands about brigade assistant support officers – known as BASOs.
“These are people appointed by the Country Fire Authority to help brigades with concerns about work and other issues,” he said.
“Under this plan, they will be replaced with paid firefighters.
“BASOs are usually local to the area and know the brigade’s concerns, and for them be replaced by a paid firefighter would really be a kick in the guts.
“The volunteers are happy to work with the BASOs, and to have a union representative come in and stand over them would be hard to take.”
Mr Dumesny said community safety and peer support personnel could also be replaced.
He said volunteers were now waiting for the premier’s decision.
“We were under the impression Tuesday was the deadline for a decision,” he said.
“We are not quite sure what the situation is.”
Member for Western Victoria Simon Ramsay said last week if the premier stood with the union, it would be payback after the union opposed the Coalition at the previous state election.
