Career firefighters march in Albany’s York Street with lights and sirens as fight for fair pay continues

Albany career firefighters protested along York Street on Thursday morning as a dispute over unfair pay and working conditions continues across WA. A small group of marchers were among fire trucks and light tankers with their sirens on holding up “Fighting for our future” signs, as the State Government prepares to present a second offer in negotiations for better pay and conditions for WA’s career firefighters. They joined hundreds of career firefighters marching past Government House in Perth on Thursday, aiming to get ministers to take notice of the demands set out by the WA firefighters’ union in still-ongoing pay negotiations. Negotiations of the WA firefighters’ Enterprise Bargaining Agreement have been ongoing for eight months, with an offer already tabled by the State Government and rejected by the United Professional Firefighters Union — Western Australia. The offer included a 40¢ per hour pay rise from the current base rate of $38 per hour, far from the $8 per hour increase needed to bring career firefighters’ base rate up to standard with the rest of WA’s emergency services. Union members in Albany began protesting in June, joining regional and metro crews to raise concerns about the need for pay parity and for the firefighters’ EBA to better reflect the stress and strain of frontline firefighting work. Albany union delegate Jackson Shaw said local crews would continue protesting until a fair offer was on the table, backing up their colleagues protesting in Perth. “For us as a country station it’s an opportunity for us to support the people up there, our colleagues and what they’re doing, and we have guys who have travelled up to join the protests in Perth because this is really important to them,” Mr Shaw said. “We think we’re worth more than 40¢ an hour, and we want the Government to recognise that we’re worth more than that. “We do this job for the community and we do it for our family and friends who live in the community, and unfortunately at the moment the Government is relying on our goodwill to stand up and fill positions when we’re short-staffed.” Fire stations across the State have seen equipment decommissioned and staffing requirements unmet, according to the UPFUWA, with Albany included in a list of regional stations not meeting country crewing levels in the past week. Cardup fire station set the record on Wednesday for most consecutive days where a fire truck was decommissioned, with the truck out of action for 23 days due to crew shortages. “We do it because we love the job, and we love the people we work with and representing the community, and we just want that to be reflected in how we’re paid for the work we do,” Mr Shaw said.