{"id":58808,"date":"2025-10-03T20:55:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T20:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/58808\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T20:55:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T20:55:08","slug":"paid-firefighters-to-strike-in-tauranga-as-union-warns-of-staff-shortages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/58808\/","title":{"rendered":"Paid firefighters to strike in Tauranga as union warns of staff shortages"},"content":{"rendered":"

On September 20, Greerton and Mount Maunganui stations were each one firefighter short.<\/p>\n

He said that day\u2019s understaffing meant communities were at greater risk of delayed response to rescues and other emergencies.<\/p>\n

Swanson said there were 52 career firefighters across Tauranga, Greerton, and Mount Maunganui stations, and about 50 to 60 volunteers to call on.<\/p>\n

Swanson said there had been no increase in staff since the late 1980s, despite increases in the city\u2019s population, the number of callouts and extra staff leave entitlements.<\/p>\n

\" Tauranga secretary of the NZ Professional Firefighters Union Mike Swanson.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur volunteers do an amazing job, but they\u2019re under pressure and work and family commitments mean they are not always available to cover any absences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swanson said three years ago the union sought an increase in the number of career firefighters nationwide.<\/p>\n

Swanson said Fire and Emergency had now doubled back on its 2022 increased staffing agreement and cancelled the January 2026 career recruits course.<\/p>\n

He said it was a daily struggle to get sufficient coverage in Tauranga, as well as for on-call mechanics to keep the \u201cageing\u201d vehicle fleet operational \u2013 a burning wire forced one appliance<\/a> off the road while returning from a callout in June.<\/p>\n

\"BurningBurning wiring forced Tauranga’s relief fire truck off the road for urgent repairs in June. Photos \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is a house fire, we must have four firefighters on the ground \u2013 two to enter the structure and two outside for safety reasons. That\u2019s the legal requirement under health and safety regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said for this reason, it was not uncommon for fire crews from Tauranga, Greerton and Mount Maunganui stations to all respond to fires reported in buildings.<\/p>\n

Swanson said he hoped the strike action would not be needed in having these issues addressed.<\/p>\n

Union president Joanne Watson said the strike was planned from noon to 1pm on October 17, unless an agreement could be reached in bargaining.<\/p>\n

Watson said union members have not received a pay increase since July 2023 and Fire and Emergency\u2019s June 13 offer,<\/a> equivalent to 5% over five years with no backdating, was rejected by 99% of the members. <\/p>\n

\" NZ Professional Firefighters Union national secretary Joanne Watson. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

She said staffing was a \u201ckey part\u201d of the 2022 bargaining settlement, which resulted in an \u201cagreement in principle\u201d by Fire and Emergency to increase firefighting ratios, which would result in up to 235 extra paid firefighters being employed nationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are ready and waiting for Fenz to present their new offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fire and Emergency deputy national commander Megan Stiffler told the Bay of Plenty Times the Bay of Plenty district was currently \u201cfully staffed\u201d by paid firefighters.<\/p>\n

Stiffler said of the 13,500 firefighters nationwide, 1800 were paid. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time, we are comfortable that we have the appropriate number of paid firefighters.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the January 2026 career recruits\u2019 course would not proceed because there were \u201cinsufficient vacancies\u201d to warrant it, and many districts had more staff than available positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn April 2026, 18 new paid firefighters will be going through training.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stiffler said the organisation utilised overtime, callbacks and moved people and resources around to cover absences due to illness, training or leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunity safety is of the utmost priority to Fire and Emergency, and we want to reassure the public that we will do our best to maintain services during this period of industrial action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stiffler said the rejected offer was a 5.1% pay increase over the next three years, as well as increases to some allowances.<\/p>\n

Fire and Emergency considered the offer sustainable, and balanced individuals\u2019 cost-of-living pressures with the organisation\u2019s fiscal pressures. <\/p>\n

Despite Fire and Emergency\u2019s commitment to bringing a revised settlement offer to the table, the union members had elected to withdraw their labour, \u201ccompromising\u201d public safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is and has always been to settle with the NZPFU.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandra Conchie<\/a> is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She is a Canon Media Awards regional\/community reporter of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On September 20, Greerton and Mount Maunganui stations were each one firefighter short. He said that day\u2019s understaffing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[806,7572,78,111,43,139,69,1118,10142,48782,1516,4485,1227,61,4483,8218],"class_list":{"0":"post-58808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-as","9":"tag-firefighters","10":"tag-in","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-of","16":"tag-paid","17":"tag-shortages","18":"tag-staff","19":"tag-strike","20":"tag-tauranga","21":"tag-to","22":"tag-union","23":"tag-warns"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}