Members should have received your outstanding travel allowance payments last week.
If you have not received a payment, or you have notified the MFS that a payment is incorrect and it has not been corrected, please urgently contact us in info@ufusa.com.au
During the last week I’ve had to write to the Minister for Emergency Services seeking that she correct statements made in Parliament, including that the Court did not order anything that had not been offered by the MFS before we even lodged legal proceedings. This could not be further from the truth: the first time that the Government or the MFS accepted that it could pay interest was on the day of trial. The Minister would be wise to scrutinise the information that she receives in future.
The approach taken by the Minister and the other Senior Government Ministers after the orders made in the case were reported, was disappointing to say the least. Rather than apologising that Firefighters had been forced to pursue court orders to receive their lawful entitlements, they sought to trivialise what occurred and made excuses.
We will continue to attempt to work with the Government to try to fix the problems that are rearing their head in a legion of different areas, however in order to do this the Government has to start from the position of accepting that there is a problem, and that it needs to be fixed as a priority. Anything less and we’ll continue to hold them to account.
Efforts to minimise the seriousness of what has happened are unsustainable after the Court released its reasons for making orders last week. Those reasons were scathing of the approach taken by senior members of MFS management to fixing the travel allowances once the problem had revealed itself. Extracts from the Court’s reasons include:
“Given how long it took for senior management to start acting on the issue, then the inadequate measures it took to rectify it such that payments are still in arrears eight months later, it is little wonder that the UFU felt that it had to come to the SAET to try to get their members their lawful entitlements. Despite the language of the SAMFS correspondence to the UFU speaking in terms of concern and priority, the actual response indicated a lower priority than was required.
Once the SAMFS management became aware its firefighters were not being paid their entitlements, resuming compliance with that legal obligation should have had led to nothing short of full-time dedication of resources until it was resolved. Not only did this not happen, with no explanation for why it was moved from the operational area to the administration area without commensurate transfer of resources, but there was no evidence before me as to how it was going to be managed into the future.
And:
“The employer here is the Crown. That it has failed over such an extended period to comply with its own legal obligations is disturbing. The South Australian community is entitled to expect its government to adhere to the same standards of conduct that it requires of other employers.”
Members are well advised not to believe the silly stories some members of management think they can feed you – if you want to know more, the full reasons for decision can be read Here
CONCERNS ABOUT OTHER UNDERPAYMENTS
Although we would hope that the MFS would learn its lesson about not complying with our Award and Agreement, and fixing issues when they first arise, the UFU has also become aware that members from the SOPP Course 2 completed in November 2024 did not receive their correct payments from the time that they were be eligible to be treated as SSFFL2, and also that squad 59 may not have received their progression to 2nd Class Firefighter when that ought to have happened.
I have written to the Chief Officer insisting that these issues be investigated and rectified as appropriate, including the payment of interest, by close of business next Friday, and indicating that if they are not the UFU is likely to bring further cases to compel payment. We will let you know of any updates.
VENTIA EDINBURGH
Congratulations to our UFU members at Ventia and your elected Shop Stewards and HSR’s on progress made on a number of issues. It is particularly heartening to see the installation of a direct exhaust extraction system in the engine room at Edinburgh especially since sleeping quarters, mess and gym all open directly from the engine bays. We can’t yet show you a picture of the installed system I recently viewed together with Shop Stewards Lionel Barry and Mark Crawford at Edinburgh but hopefully soon.
Disappointingly there are many issues we need to address on behalf of members at both Edinburgh and Woomera and hopefully we will be able to meet the appropriate company representatives soon to work on the resolution of those issues. These include matters such as shift configurations, breaches of the enterprise agreement, and the problems with the renovations of bathrooms and change areas which simply do not appear to have capacity to accommodate adult human beings. Go figure.
A BIG THANK YOU TO FIREFIGHTERS FROM LA TRATTORIA
On a more positive note, our members are reported to have once again gone above and beyond the call of duty in assisting the public, this time when attending a recent fire call to the long established city restaurant La Trattoria at 346 King William Street.
La Trattoria manager Hugo rang the United Firefighters Union recently to express his thanks for the services rendered and to offer a thank you to firefighters in return.
Hugo asked me to pass on to you that while he understands you expect no such thanks, any firefighters attending his restaurant should make yourselves known to staff as firefighters and you will receive a free bruschetta. So very nice to have your services to community recognised in this way.
MDC
The Mother’s Day Classic was once again a huge success thanks to everyone who turned out and supported this important initiative. Thank you to our team captains who invested so much of their own time and energy organising us all, through to those who collected gear, set up, cooked the breakfast, packed up afterwards or who simply turned out and participated in such great numbers.
The UFUSA is very proud to support and participate in this event in support of the fight against breast and ovarian cancers.
COME AND JOIN US AT THE KNEES UP ON 30 MAY 2025
Strathmore Hotel at 13:00hours
And just a little reminder:
HSR training at the UFU Office
Monday 26 – Friday 30 May 2025
with thanks to Chief Officer Jeff Swann for facilitating this important training which will be of benefit to all members.
Hope to see you there!
UFUSA HOODIES NOW ON SALE
Brrrr it’s getting COLD out there!
Warm and cosy union hoodies are now on sale at cost price for $70, they are going fast so get in our to ensure you get your size. Here is link to the UFUSA Shop
In Solidarity,
