Media statement from New Zealand Fire Service National Commander/Chief Executive Mike Hall
28 July 2011

I am concerned that the NZPFU (New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union) has mounted a public campaign that suggests the Fire Service is paying firefighters below the minimum hourly rate.

Clearly that cannot be correct as the Fire Service would have been hauled before the Employment Court by now.

All firefighters are paid a weekly wage that always includes several different allowances.   For the union to strip these payments out of the hourly rate equation is deliberately misleading and disingenuous.

The Fire Service has attempted so far without success, in this pay round and in previous pay rounds, to get the union to agree to permanently roll those allowances into a basic hourly rate.   This would prevent any disputed interpretation of exactly what firefighters earn.  The union claims that a firefighter earns $12.29 per hour.  In fact, an entry level firefighter (one who has finished the 12 week recruit course) earns the equivalent of $18.87 an hour.  This is the $792.53 weekly wage (which includes the allowances) divided by the 42 hours they work. 

The basic annual salary for an entry level firefighter is  $41,322 and the average earned by entry level firefighters last year, including overtime and superannuation contributions, was $59,828