April 1, 2010
THE Metropolitan Fire Brigade has shelved its attempt to bypass equal opportunity laws amid intense criticism of its plan to give preference to multicultural and indigenous people in pre-employment training.
Last night, MFB chief executive Ken Latta said the decision to withdraw its application to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal was due to an ''extraordinary reaction'' to its plans, and ''misconceptions'' about what it was trying to do.
He said the MFB would lodge a new application at a later date as it was not possible to change the affidavit that had already been lodged with the tribunal. The MFB was seeking an exemption from the Equal Opportunity Act so it could give preference to indigenous and under-represented cultural and linguistic groups in pre-employment training.
Peter Marshall, the national secretary of the UFU, which had opposed the application, welcomed the MFB's decision. It comes after criticism from women firefighters at a separate plan to boost the number of women in the workforce.
''We see as this as a win for common sense - the female firefighters didn't want any special treatment and certainly they're the ones that know best,'' he said. ''And indeed, in relation to other groups within our society, we look forward to reinstating the program that we were jointly developing with the Brotherhood of St Laurence to reach out into communities where there are the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society.''
Mr Marshall said that program that the MFB had ''walked away from'' would have provided real assistance ''without lowering standards''.
Mr Latta said there was no attempt to undermine standards or the merit process through the VCAT application.
''If people from cultural backgrounds unfamiliar with firefighting as a vocation complete the pre-application program, they must still then apply and compete with other applicants in our recruit selection process,'' he said.
''They will then be placed on the order of merit. If they are high enough on the order of merit to get in our recruit program, they must then complete the full normal recruit training with all other recruits.''
Mr Latta said there were no intention to outsource training, as the union had claimed, through its pre-employment training proposal with Swinburne University.
The MFB, which has fewer women firefighters and people from non-English-speaking backgrounds than other emergency services, says it needs to change its overwhelmingly white male workforce to better reflect the community and extend the safety message to migrant communities.
Mr Latta, who retires from the MFB today, said that when it lodged its new submission, the language would be ''unambiguous for all''.
I would like to make a few points about this issue, based on my personal opinion, as I sit here pondering the ways in which the Victorian UFU might be using their power and what implications this might have for paid firefighters and communities in Metropolitan Melbourne:
1. Emergency Services such as firefighting are of critical importance to their communities.
2. Emergency Services, as many other public (and private) services are best able to fulfil this duty when they represent the community they serve.
3. The many communities in Melbourne which the MFB is responsible to providing services to are (to use a politically touted phrase in a less politically-charged way) diverse communities in relation to ethnicity, nationality, culture, sexuality, gender, religion, values and so on.
4. Most firefighters were related to or friends with a firefighter prior to their decision to embark on their chosen career path. This means that they have the advantage of being exposed to the industry prior to gaining entry into it. The vast majority of paid career firefighters in Australia are white men. It follows that the establishment of a mentoring program targeting under-represented groups in firefighting would merely serve to provide such groups with the prior exposure to firefighting that most other firefighters already have.
5. The current reality is that many, many people living the communities serviced by the MFB do not see ‘people like me’ represented in the fire brigade. This is not just an employment issue, but an issue of those in these communities having a legitimate need to be able to relate to and identify with the service providers (firefighters). The satisfaction of this need would facilitate a deeper trust between the communities and the fire service and inevitably lead to a more effective fire service.
Example: At the first Mardi Gras in Sydney, violence was imposed by the NSW Police upon those marching in the parade- a result of the complicated and tense relationship between the two, based on the police having misconceptions about this section of their community. Things have progressed since the first Mardi Gras, with NSW Police and firefighters now marching with those from the gay/lesbian/transgender communities in a symbol of community solidarity. While this may not be a sign of a perfect relationship between emergency services and a section of their communities, it is a positive step.
When was the last time the MFB stood in solidarity with diverse sections of their community in this way? From my understanding, it has happened at the Melbourne Pride Parade. It might be worth investigating what people at the MFB were committed enough to participate in this diverse section of their community, to give them confidence in their fire service.
6. The intention of the MFB seems to be to find effective ways of attracting under- represented groups in firefighting to the job. It’s a way of flagging the option of firefighting as a career to people to whom it may not otherwise occur that ‘people like me’ care also able to pursue this career. When I say ‘people like me,’ I mean those you do not see examples of ‘people like me’ who are firefighters.
7. Another intention of the MFB appears to be to create a working environment that is attractive to a diverse range of potential recruits.
Example: allowing parents returning from parental leave to request part-time employment for a specific period of time provided that it is operationally viable. Currently, the Victorian UFU has the final word on whether this is option is extended to a firefighter in such a situation because it is not enshrined in the EBA. Strategies, such as using a part-time annual leave/part-time on duty arrangement may be employed.
In our society, it is currently a reality that women take are far more likely to take parental leave and to be engaged in part time employment. In that way, the inflexibility with regard to the 10/14 roster system may be a deterrent, for women who may plan to have families, to entering in to the firefighting profession. The same can be said for instances in which there is a caring responsibility in the family as well as a variety of other situations in which women find themselves in to be most likely to have to make difficult choices relating to the juggle often termed ‘work/life balance’.
This is a generalisation while at the same time a genuine reflection of the current state of affairs on a societal level (though this may vary depending on what one does for work and where one works). Men find themselves juggling the ‘work/life balance’ as well. As can be seen in the Government’s Paid Parental Leave Policy, caring roles are not socially sanctioned for men. Flexibility in the workplace has the potential to change this over time. The benefits of work/life balance can be a benefit for everyone provided that the commitment to such a goal is genuine and well planned.
8. ‘Diversity’ and ‘flexibility’ has been incorporated (and continues to be entrenched) into firefighting EBAs in other parts of Australia (such as the ACT) and in the EBAs of other Emergency Services within Victoria (such as the Victorian Police).
9. The role of a Union is to collectively bargain for fair wages, rights at work and employment conditions (i.e. recognising that labour is not a commodity, ensuring dignity and respect in the workplace, etc.). While the UFU is doubtlessly committed to such a role in many ways, it appears as though the Victorian branch of the UFU tends to work against the securing of certain entitlements and conditions that other Unions advocate for (and indeed that their own Union has, in some other states/territories, already bargained for).
10. Finally, almost all paid firefighters are members of the UFU, compared with considerably lower rates of Unionisation of many other industries. Whilst I believe that Unions are an essential element to an industrial system, with all of their obvious functions, it is clear and important to note that through its disproportionally high rates of unionisation, the UFU possess considerable power. Power is either wielded or shared. Without wishing to make assumptions or judgements about the paid female firefighters who claim they don’t want flexibility, I will say this: it must be daunting for the very few women who are paid firefighters in Victoria to do anything other than conform to the dominant views currently circulating amongst MFB firefighters, particularly given that their very presence in the job may often be viewed as divergent enough.
