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Speaker 1: Earlier in the week, you would have heard us catch

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Speaker 1: up with the union for the firefighters here in the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory and we knew that they were going to

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Speaker 1: be having a mass member meeting. Now that happened a

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Speaker 1: little bit earlier in the week, and joining us on

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Speaker 1: the show to tell us more about how it went

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Speaker 1: is Erina Early, who is from the United Workers Union.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Erina.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie. How are you?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? Really good? Thanks so much for your time, Erina.

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Speaker 1: How did that meeting go? Oh?

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Speaker 2: The meeting was great, Katie. We roughly had about one

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Speaker 2: hundred and twenty tw one hundred and thirty five fighters

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Speaker 2: from across the NT participate in that meeting, either face

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Speaker 2: to face or via zoom.

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Speaker 1: So one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty

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Speaker 1: five firefighters. Now, Erina, what were they saying at that meeting?

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Speaker 2: So they're pretty frustrated with the current enterprise agreement, I'm Katie.

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Speaker 2: So basically their focus was to try and get, you know,

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Speaker 2: put some rush onto this enterprise agreement because as we know,

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Speaker 2: it's been a long time since they've had to pay increase.

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Speaker 2: So their focus was really pushing for the safe staffing

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Speaker 2: levels that they won't move on those ones, their attraction

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Speaker 2: and retention for track stations like Jabbaru Cather and Tenant

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Speaker 2: Crete go, they won't move on those ones. And also

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Speaker 2: the workers compensation parody that police and correction, they won't

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Speaker 2: move on those ones. So they're your big ones.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, so they want those those conditions met Erina,

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Speaker 1: what is what are their next steps in terms of,

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Speaker 1: you know, if they don't sort of get that negotiation

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Speaker 1: or get to the table with the government.

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Speaker 2: So what they're looking to excuse my pun their katie.

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Speaker 2: So the fire is going to turn up the heat

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Speaker 2: a bit, so you're going to see a lot more

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Speaker 2: of the riding on the trucks. They're going to be

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Speaker 2: sharing some more information, They'll be doing some media events

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Speaker 2: going out to the community asking for the community support.

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Speaker 2: So really they're going to be asking for support from

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Speaker 2: the community because they support the commun unity. So they

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Speaker 2: really want to bring everyone together to actually help them

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Speaker 2: attract retain our firefighters.

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Speaker 1: And Erina in terms of places, I mean you touched

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Speaker 1: on this before, like making sure that you've got those

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Speaker 1: staffing levels in various locations around the territory. We've spoken

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Speaker 1: to the opposition leader last week, and she'd claimed that

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Speaker 1: in Tenant Creek at the station there, that there were

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Speaker 1: actually only five Fox firefighters at Tenant Creek fire Station.

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Speaker 1: I mean, is that the case from your perspective.

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Speaker 2: Yes, So at the moment, they haven't filled those positions,

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Speaker 2: for the permanent positions, Katie. So they're actually bringing firefighters

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Speaker 2: within the NT to look after the Tenant Creek community

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Speaker 2: because they can't sell this position. And this is one

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Speaker 2: of the reasons, and that's what those claims for attraction

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Speaker 2: or retention in these areas like Tennant Creek.

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Speaker 1: And so we only in a situation where we're not

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Speaker 1: able to fill those permanent positions in Tenant or is

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Speaker 1: it also in other locations?

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Speaker 2: So we've got Yolara, We've got we can't feel the

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Speaker 2: positions in Catherine, we can't feel the positions in Jabbaru. Also,

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Speaker 2: we've got go Of as well. It's been an ongoing

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Speaker 2: issue for nearly twenty years, Katie.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, so it's not something that's sort of brand new,

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Speaker 1: but I guess it's come to the fore right now

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Speaker 1: because they are wanting better paying conditions.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, what impact.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that that has by not having those

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Speaker 1: permanent firefighters in some of those locations, what impact does

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Speaker 1: it have for the whole community area.

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Speaker 2: I think the big thing with these firefighters at track Station,

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Speaker 2: they are part of the community, Katie, so everyone likes

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Speaker 2: to know who they're firefighters are, paramedics, police officers, nurses, etc.

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Speaker 2: They have that real connection. So when we don't have

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Speaker 2: firefighters place there permanently, it makes a big difference. And

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Speaker 2: I think people like in TenneT Creek and other areas

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Speaker 2: feel that the government is not caring about them and

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Speaker 2: they're not getting their same service.

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Speaker 1: So we're too from here obviously, like you said, we

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Speaker 1: are going to see some increased messaging on the trucks

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Speaker 1: and things like that, but where too from here.

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Speaker 2: So we're hoping to meet with the minister soon so

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Speaker 2: we can start discussing our priority claims. And we are

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Speaker 2: really pushing for a deadline of six to eight weeks

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Speaker 2: to try and get this matter resolved because it's not

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Speaker 2: fair to the firefighters and it's not fair to the

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Speaker 2: community to know that their firefighters are so upset.

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Speaker 1: Well Erina Early Northern Territory United Workers Union always appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time. Thank you very much for speaking with us today.

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Speaker 2: Always my pleasure. Katie, have a great day.

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Speaker 1: Thank you you too.