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Speaker 1: But as we know this morning, teachers, power and water

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Speaker 1: workers and corrections officers, well they're not the only ones

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Speaker 1: walking off the job for better pay. Firefighters at Darwin

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Speaker 1: Airport are considering going on strike during the Christmas period

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Speaker 1: the United Firefighters Union Aviation branch as secretary. Where's Garrett

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Speaker 1: joins me, Now, where's good morning? How are you?

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katy? Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: I'm well, thanks for having us, Saul, thanks for coming

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Speaker 1: on the show. What are the concerns of the airport

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Speaker 1: firefighters in Darwin at the moment?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Primarily our concerns revolve around staffing numbers, minimum staffing numbers. Now,

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Speaker 2: aviation is a highly regulated industry and aviation firefighting is

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Speaker 2: no exception to that. So KASSA approves the minimum staffing

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Speaker 2: levels for aviation rescue firefighting stations around the country. And

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Speaker 2: what we're trying to bring to people's attention, or the

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Speaker 2: traveling public's attention, is that those levels are not being

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Speaker 2: met today.

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Speaker 1: And so why has it got to the point where

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Speaker 1: strike action is required.

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Speaker 2: We're looking for a clause in our Enterprise Agreement to

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Speaker 2: put a framework around minimum staffing and to basically recognize

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Speaker 2: the international standard or there's an organization called the International

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Speaker 2: Civil Aviation Organization that sets the framework and the methodology

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Speaker 2: for determined determining sorry minimum staffing, and we're looking to

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Speaker 2: have that recognized in our enterprise agreement if we had

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Speaker 2: this prior to COVID. And the reason that we're one

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Speaker 2: hundred fire fighters short is because their services incentivized the

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Speaker 2: retirement of one hundred firefighters during COVID. Now that the

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Speaker 2: border restrictions have been rolled back, aviation obviously has come

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Speaker 2: back very strongly domestically and internationally, and we are caught

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Speaker 2: short at the majority of our twenty seven stations around

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Speaker 2: the country.

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Speaker 1: So how many aviation firefighters do we actually have here

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Speaker 1: in Darwin compared to the number that we need?

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Speaker 2: So pre COVID in Darwen there were forty six firefighters

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Speaker 2: full time employees at the Darwin station. Today there are

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Speaker 2: thirty six. So there's ten less firefighters in Darwin than

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Speaker 2: what they're previously was. And that's a pretty that's a

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Speaker 2: pretty consistent reduction at many many stations around the country.

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Speaker 2: Darwin is one of them.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, right. And is it a specialty to be

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Speaker 1: a fiery in aviation?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, aviation firefighting is very specialized field. And as

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Speaker 2: I've said, aviation generally is a highly regulated industry. So

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Speaker 2: a firefighters need to have very specific competencies in training.

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Speaker 2: It's equipment, which is all aviation specific what sets us apart.

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Speaker 2: I'm not sure if people are familiar with aviation risky

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Speaker 2: because usually our stations are airside, not really totally visible

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Speaker 2: to the public. But our trucks very different trucks. They're

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Speaker 2: much larger, they're specially built to deal with large hydrocarbon fires.

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Speaker 2: They have big monitors on the roof, they produce foam.

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Speaker 2: So the equipment, the train, very specialized field, and yes

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Speaker 2: it is. It's a horses for causes proposition when it

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Speaker 2: comes to firefighting. Yes, we're all firefighters, but an urban firefighters, yeah,

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Speaker 2: is a very different job to that that's provided by

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Speaker 2: aviation rescue firefighters.

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Speaker 1: And so is there a concern here around pay as

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Speaker 1: well or is it more so those numbers?

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Speaker 2: Those numbers are a primary concern, and that is why

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Speaker 2: we've got a bit of a national We've got national

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Speaker 2: attention actually obviously around this, and this is a perfect

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Speaker 2: opportunity for us to let people know that the staffing

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Speaker 2: numbers that are approved in this country today by KASSA

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Speaker 2: are not being met on a regular basis around the

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Speaker 2: country and this is a this is unacceptable in a

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Speaker 2: first world country like Australia.

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Speaker 1: Where's what impact could this industrial action have on airport

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Speaker 1: operations and is it likely to happen over that Christmas break?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, AD Branch Committitey of Management are still working on

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Speaker 2: what the framework of the work stoppages will look like

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Speaker 2: as far as the dates, locations, durations, etc. But as

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Speaker 2: has been publicized in the news media today, we have

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Speaker 2: basically an indefinite period that we can roll these stoppages

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Speaker 2: out from it began actually back on We've got the

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Speaker 2: decision from fair Work on the eleventh of November. But

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Speaker 2: basically there's an infinite and indefinite time frame that we

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Speaker 2: can use any of these work stoppages moving into the.

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Speaker 1: Future where some people listening are going to be thinking

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Speaker 1: why do it over Christmas when it's going to impact

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Speaker 1: all of us?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, I would say that the primary consideration should

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Speaker 2: be here about having adequate buy and rescue resources available

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Speaker 2: at the airport that you're taking off from and at

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Speaker 2: the airport that you're arriving to. And that those services

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Speaker 2: should be must be consistent with international safety standards. And

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Speaker 2: that's why o FI I've got it feels so passionate

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Speaker 2: and important that we bring this to the public's attention.

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Speaker 1: Well United Firefighters Union Aviation Branch Secretary where Garrett, I

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. Thanks for coming on and

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Speaker 1: giving us a bit of an explainer as to what

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Speaker 1: the situation is.

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Speaker 2: Thank you very much for having me.

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Speaker 1: Thank you