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Speaker 1: We were due to catch up with my next guest

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Speaker 1: to talk about some of the issues that we are

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Speaker 1: seeing out at the Holtz Prison when it comes to

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Speaker 1: corrections offices, and we are going to talk about that

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Speaker 1: in just a couple of moments. But what we have

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Speaker 1: learned this morning is that there is indeed a fireban

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Speaker 1: in place and a fire weather warning for the Darwin

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Speaker 1: and Adelaide River fire forecast area. But what we are

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Speaker 1: also hearing this morning is that the Humpty de fire

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Speaker 1: station isn't open due to staffing issues.

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Speaker 2: Now joining me on the line right now is erinor.

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Speaker 1: Early She is indeed, well, the secretary of the United

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Speaker 1: Workers Union.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Erina.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 2: How are you? Yeah? Not too bad?

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Speaker 1: Erin? I, firstly, I want to just talk about this

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Speaker 1: situation with the Humpty fire station being closed. What is

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Speaker 1: your understanding of what's going on this morning?

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Speaker 3: So we've been advised by members the station has been

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Speaker 3: closed because management haven't been able to steal open time.

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Speaker 2: And so how come they've not been able to fill

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Speaker 2: over time.

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Speaker 3: Well, that's a good question, Katie, because I hear that

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Speaker 3: management have turned around and also the Chief Minister have

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Speaker 3: said that because firefighters are callding sick, but they haven't

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Speaker 3: actually exhausted all their availabilities to backfield, so they haven't

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Speaker 3: put recalls. It haven't rang around fiery to say can

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Speaker 3: you come in at all? This is a cost saving

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Speaker 3: thing to shut the fight humpty do?

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Speaker 1: Okay, because the Chief Minister said that it was a

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Speaker 1: situation this morning where it was because yeah, because there

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Speaker 1: were firefighters who were sick. So you're saying that's not

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Speaker 1: the case.

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Speaker 3: No, absolutely not. So there's no fighters there. They have

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Speaker 3: not been called at all available to perform.

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Speaker 1: Look how many how many fieries are we talking here, Erona,

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Speaker 1: because I guess some people will be thinking, is someone

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Speaker 1: playing funny buggers here? Is?

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Speaker 2: You know what's going on? No?

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Speaker 3: No, it's just it's not even that many firefighters at all.

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Speaker 3: But for them to shut down humpty do and then

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Speaker 3: remove all the additional firefighters that are meant to be

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Speaker 3: available because it's high danger is the only reason they

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Speaker 3: would do this is because they are cost cutting.

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Speaker 2: All right.

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Speaker 1: Well, I am going to make sure that we catch

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Speaker 1: up with the Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service to

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Speaker 1: get their take on this, you know, eron or I

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Speaker 1: know that the main thing that people are going to

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Speaker 1: be concerned about is whether you know the people of

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Speaker 1: the rural area are safe and whether there's backups.

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Speaker 2: I guess which.

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Speaker 1: I'm assuming they'll be able to tell us, But you know,

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Speaker 1: what's your take.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, the first priority is the safety of the people

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Speaker 3: the rural but also safety of the firefighters as well.

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Speaker 3: But the safety of firefighters isn't a question here. It's

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Speaker 3: about the fire service not being honest about the real

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Speaker 3: reason why they've shut down humpty and then basically stopped

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Speaker 3: or the additional enhanced servicing out to the rural there,

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Speaker 3: because no way should the fire service allow this to

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Speaker 3: happen at all. They should be doing everything in their

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Speaker 3: means to ensure hump do you do? And the rural

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Speaker 3: people out there have got the best fire service coverage.

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Speaker 1: I'm just trying to get my head around with the

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Speaker 1: you know, with the rosterring or with having to call

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Speaker 1: people in and do the like the overtime. So you're

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Speaker 1: saying that they're cost cutting, so they're not calling those

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Speaker 1: people in because they don't want to pay the overtime.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, this is all about money, all right.

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Speaker 1: I suppose I'm a bit perplexed because I would think

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Speaker 1: to myself that or that they'd have to do that

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Speaker 1: most days anyway, if you know, if they're having to

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Speaker 1: fill those rosters.

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Speaker 3: That's correct. But we don't know what memos come across

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Speaker 3: the chief fire officer's death today.

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Speaker 2: All right, well i'll see if we can. I'll see

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Speaker 2: what detail we can get.

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Speaker 1: Erina, there seems to be a lot a lot of

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Speaker 1: union action, I guess you'd say this morning. I know

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Speaker 1: that you obviously are not part of the union, the

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Speaker 1: education union. That's you know, with the schools going on

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Speaker 1: strike on Friday, but but yeah, what's the go for Friday?

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Speaker 2: Do you have much of an understanding?

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Speaker 3: Yes, So the teachers around the Northern Territory are going

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Speaker 3: to be going on a four our workstoppage. They're not

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Speaker 3: happy with the wage freezers. So Michelle, the president of

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Speaker 3: the au n T, is getting organized and as you know,

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Speaker 3: the bellot got voted up last week. So the teachers

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Speaker 3: are basically sending a clear message to the anti government

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Speaker 3: they're not happy about the four year wage free What.

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Speaker 1: Did you think of the Chief minister's comments that she

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Speaker 1: thought the timing was interesting, she said on the show,

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Speaker 1: with me just a short time ago with the by

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Speaker 1: election on the weekend.

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Speaker 3: Look, it could have been a reason from the AEU,

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Speaker 3: but they're not a f to the Labor Party at all.

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Speaker 3: So I think basically any time is the government is

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Speaker 3: going to call it a bad time. But workers have

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Speaker 3: had enough, and especially the teachers.

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Speaker 1: I know plenty of parents listen to the show, They'll

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Speaker 1: be thinking to themselves, you know, why are our teachers

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Speaker 1: not going to work on Friday?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely anything to come when it comes to these work

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Speaker 3: stobbages through the protected action. That's the purpose of them

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Speaker 3: is to cause an impact to the anti government and

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Speaker 3: unfortunately it is going to impact territories now.

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Speaker 1: She did also say that they are going to be

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Speaker 1: reviewing this situation with the with the pay freeze Erona,

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Speaker 1: and that you know the lock. She acknowledges that the

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Speaker 1: cost of livings obviously going up. I think all of

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Speaker 1: us are certainly feeling the pinch. Is that good enough

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Speaker 1: from your perspective? Does the government need to take some

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Speaker 1: real action here?

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Speaker 3: Oh, they absolutely do, Katie needs to take some real action.

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Speaker 3: That's the first that we've heard about the government is

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Speaker 3: looking at reconsidering the wage policy and the wage free.

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Speaker 3: I think if they moved on the wage free you'll

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Speaker 3: see a lot of these angry public sector workers basically

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Speaker 3: storing their protected action that we can really engage in

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Speaker 3: productive and efficient enterprise agreement negotiations.

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Speaker 1: Now, Erina, can I ask you about the actual reason

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Speaker 1: why I got you on the show this morning, and

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Speaker 1: that is about the very serious situation that we've got

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Speaker 1: out at the Darwin Correctional Center at Holts. You know,

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Speaker 1: we spoke last week to John Lawrence SC about the

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Speaker 1: concerns that he, as a lawyer obviously has or as

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Speaker 1: representing people that are in that prison has. But Erina,

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Speaker 1: what's the situation right now at the Darwin Prison from

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Speaker 1: your perspective when it comes to those correction staff And thanks.

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Speaker 3: Katie, We can't say too much because of there are

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Speaker 3: security reasons, security issues. I need to ensure the safety

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Speaker 3: of the office as well as the prisoners aren't at risk.

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Speaker 3: But there has been some schedule outages over the last

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Speaker 3: couple of weeks. They're doing a service of the system,

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Speaker 3: they're at the prison, but due to these outages, they

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Speaker 3: have caused some issues where basically for a couple of hours,

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Speaker 3: correctional officers haven't been able to have certain access to

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Speaker 3: certain systems, which has caused a lot of problems with

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Speaker 3: these problems. Last week, the health and safety representative basically,

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Speaker 3: we nearly had twenty to thirty officers walk off the

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Speaker 3: job because they really feed for their safety. But to

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Speaker 3: the credit of management, they acted on this quite swiftly,

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Speaker 3: which officers appreciated. But it came to a lot for

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Speaker 3: the officers to consider to walk out and work health

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Speaker 3: and safety.

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Speaker 2: And so they're not walking out at this stage.

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Speaker 1: Their concerns have been dealt with.

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Speaker 3: At this stage, they're being dealt with. But each day

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Speaker 3: that they have these outages and if there's any issues,

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Speaker 3: it is something the officers seriously have to consider because

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Speaker 3: they have to ensure their safety as there were some

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Speaker 3: assaults last week as well on officers.

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Speaker 2: There was an assault on officers last week.

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Speaker 3: Two officers were assaulted last week.

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Speaker 2: Are they okay?

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Speaker 3: They're okay. They both had to go to hospital for checking,

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Speaker 3: but they're okay. But the other officers within one minute,

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Speaker 3: one minute, there were forording officers there to assist and

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Speaker 3: the prisoner was detained.

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Speaker 1: All right, that sounds like a pretty scary situation. Aeron

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Speaker 1: are the staff out there feeling okay about being at work?

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Speaker 1: Are they feeling like there their safety concerns are being dealt.

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Speaker 3: With, You've got yeah, it's a high and low's Katie.

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Speaker 3: So often you hear me say management or try and

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Speaker 3: trying their band. But they are trying with what they're

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Speaker 3: working with with these outages. So a health and safety

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Speaker 3: representative of the union, delegates are working entirely to be

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Speaker 3: sure that officers' voices are being heard, that they're safe,

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Speaker 3: and if there is any issues, they're working directly with management.

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Speaker 1: All right, erin early we are going to have to

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Speaker 1: leave it there. I appreciate your time this morning, Thanks

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Speaker 1: for speaking with me.

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Speaker 3: Thanks Katie, thank you, thank you too,