🚫 What it's like to be on strike 🚫
Entry #60 on the fire crisis and Shawn's first experience of a union-organised strike
Entry #60
In May, members of the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union voted to strike over a range of claims that have not been addressed by the senior executives at Fire and Emergency NZ. Among the 300 claims on the bargaining table are matters like pay, the ageing fleet and firefighting equipment, under-staffing, no recognition of occupational cancers and limited psychological support for the calls they attend in co-response with St Johns ambulance staff.
After notifying the organisation and sketching out a plan for how the Union proposed to take action, the strike began on Monday 13 June.
Today’s entry is not going to dive into the details of the strike. I hope you have seen some coverage of it in the media. If not, you might like to head to www.firecrisis.nz to read more, from the Union’s perspective, or search the hashtag #firecrisis on social media.
But before reading more, today I just want to humanise the strike for you. Strikes seem to be quite misunderstood in New Zealand, at the least I am noticing lots of misconceptions about how and why a strike eventuates. So here’s a view from two angles - a real participant’s point of view and, of course, mine.
First, Shawn. This experience is new - he has never been part of a strike, but he voted in support of this one. He had never had a job in a unionised sector before becoming a firefighter. The last 19 days have been eye-opening and, actually, depressing for him.
He’s angry that the bargaining teams on both sides have not been able to resolve anything so far. He’s not sure who to be angry at, the execs or the Union because it’s quite a mysterious process and leaves you wondering what have they been doing for 19 days?
He’s learning about the bargaining process and baffled that the teams can just walk out of negotiations without making any progress. Who gets to do that in real life? He’s used to sorting stuff out and moving on.
He’s worried. Really worried about two things. 1. that the strike may escalate and extend to more than just an administrative hiatus, to a point where fire services are actually paused to really get people’s attention. 2. that this will just drag on and on for years.
He’s gutted that he and his mates are feeling so invisible and under-recognised by their execs, whilst they hear about money being allocated to set up new taskforces and IT projects.
I’m mad and sad.
I’m mad as hell that there is such a rot of operational blindness in his employer’s headquarters that budget is allocated to pet projects instead of bumping up the salaries of the firefighters who operate 24/7 to keep communities safe.
I’m mad about the way the execs pat themselves on the back on their social media profiles for the good work they are doing in Wellington, without stepping foot into the cab of a 24 year old fire truck to see how the people on the ground really have to work each day.
I’m mad that when I emailed all MPs, only one replied. That was Todd Muller, by the way. I’ve used my local contacts to reach out widely about this situation. No response from Jamie Strange, David Bennett, or the Waikato Times for that matter.
I’m mad that the bargaining has halted with no more scheduled meetings and that the execs refused to address any other claims until remuneration is resolved. ‘Good faith’ evaporates pretty quickly it seems. In case you’re interested, FENZ want the Union to counter-offer the 1.5% pay increase they think is appropriate for firefighters who have been on an expired employment agreement since June 2020.
And I’m so sad for Shawn, that he is living through a pretty ugly stage of his otherwise dream career.
There’s no easy way to lighten this topic, it is just a bit shit. Every post needs something visual so here’s a little montage of photos I have used on my recent LinkedIn posts.
I needed to rant and make sure you all know that this is going on. It affects thousands and thousands of employees.
As always, I look forward to hearing what you heard, saw and felt when reading this. I hope you’re mad too. If you have any ideas on how to unleash me further and try to make change happen for these good people, I am all ears!
With love,
Michelle xx
Hello Michelle, the idea I have is to listen like Syd, et al. Isn't that when our wisdom and creativity to make change is unleashed? I'd love to read another reflection on this situation, by you, from that understanding. With sincerity, Justine