Anxiety levels are “through the roof” as up to 20 Fire and Emergency New Zealand staff in the South face losing their jobs before Christmas.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) staff were told last week up to 140 roles could go nationally in a bid to slash $50 million from annual costs.
The restructuring involves transferring work from regional offices to national headquarters, where new roles will be created.
In response, the Public Service Association (PSA) and New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) are taking legal action against Fenz.
In the restructuring document, seen by the Otago Daily Times, the regional management structure in regions across New Zealand, including Otago, will be cut.
NZPFU Dunedin secretary and firefighter Mike Taylor said anything from “a dozen to 20 roles” in the southern region could be disestablished, including filled and vacant positions.
Potentially “many more” people might be affected as a result of people having to reapply for jobs, changes in reporting lines, changes in roles and roles combining.
“The anxiety levels of the people involved are through the roof at the moment,” he said.
If the proposed timeline is followed, many of the affected staff will find out if they will lose their jobs on December 17.
“Basically, the day before the proposal was released to the public, they had a meeting with the affected people … The document came out at 4pm that afternoon.”
He said there was no prior warning, but people just knew “something was in the pipeline”.
“Obviously, some people would be very scared because their jobs are going to get disestablished … That’s one of the big things that the unions are discussing — the way that this was implemented, because this was basically done without consultation with the unions involved.”
An agreement between Fenz, the PSA and NZPFU meant “even the need for change” had to be consulted on, he said.
The document showed jobs being cut from regional offices included business analysts, business services co-ordinators, administration and planning and intelligence positions.
All could be incorporated into fewer centralised roles, it said.
A consultation and feedback period is open until Wednesday.
Under the proposal, three new head office roles will replace the regional structure, and district managers will report directly to them.
Districts have been split into different categories — Otago is in the “growth district” category, while Southland is in the “natural risks environment” category.
Taieri MP Ingrid Leary said the proposed restructuring would hit Otago and the wider South hard.
“Scrapping the regional management layer and shifting Otago under a national ‘growth districts’ model hands more control to Wellington and weakens the local decision-making our communities depend on — especially in rural areas where local knowledge saves lives.”
She said that for the South it was not just a restructuring, but a test of fairness and basic safety.
“Otago deserves guarantees that local capability will be strengthened, not stripped back.”
Fenz chief executive and national commander Kerry Gregory said Fenz was consulting both unions “in line with the obligations outlined in our collective agreements”.
“We have postponed planned activities to ensure our unions, associations and personnel have the time and capacity to engage fully with the proposal and prepare their submissions.”
He said both unions, as well as all staff, were encouraged to take part in the consultation process.
“Subject to consultation, the proposals in the restructure will touch around 700 roles across the organisation, resulting in the net loss of around 140 positions.”