BULLETIN

Bulletin No:      238                                  Volume:  20                      Sunday 2 November 2014

TO ALL UFU MEMBERS

FIREFIGHTERS HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN

MFB CHIEF OFFICER PETER RAU OR

BOARD PRESIDENT MURRAY NEIL COMRIE

THE NAPTHINE GOVERNMENT EFFECT

MFB operational firefighters have delivered a damning vote of no confidence in the leadership of Melbourne’s fire service.

A total of 994 MFB firefighters responded to the recent UFU survey:

• 95% of them have no confidence in Chief Officer Peter Rau, and
• 92% have no confidence in MFB president Murray Neil Comrie.

Firefighters love their job, but the workplace has become toxic since the Napthine Government came to power in November 2010.

Firefighting is a stressful job already, but the budget cuts and political attacks of the Napthine Government have severely damaged the culture of our fire services.

The MFB’s workload is growing as Melbourne’s population reaches record highs, yet the Fire Services Levy is being spent on lawyers and consultants, and pre-election advertising, instead of keeping fire trucks on the road.

It is no surprise that the bureaucrats who do the bidding of this government have lost the respect of operational firefighters.

In contrast to the UFU survey, we remind members of last week’s unreliable ‘people matters’ survey results being published by the MFB. Whilst those survey results were unreliable due to the tiny sample size and fact that 43% of the respondents were management themselves, the UFU survey is highly significant, and can’t be ignored.

A Special General Meeting of UFU members has been called for the 18th of November 2014 where this matter will be one of others items for further consideration.

Strength in Unity

READ OUT AT MUSTER AND PIN ON NOTICE BOARD

Authorised by Peter Marshall, Branch Secretary