Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) has taken further steps in its dispute with the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU), filing legal proceedings in the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and referring concerns to Police over alleged threats and intimidation of volunteer firefighters.
FENZ said the action follows complaints about the conduct of union officials toward volunteers responding to incidents during ongoing industrial action. The agency alleges that NZPFU officials pressured volunteers not to respond to emergencies or to refrain from using what FENZ considers the most appropriate appliances and equipment during strike periods, and that the union condoned or supported that conduct. “I think the public would be appalled to learn officials of the NZPFU appear to have sought to stop volunteer firefighters going on callouts with the most appropriate appliance. We rely on volunteers to ensure the community remains protected, including during strikes, and in 2025, this kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable,” said FENZ chief executive Kerry Gregory.
The ERA has directed FENZ and the NZPFU into independent facilitation to support negotiations for a new collective agreement, and that process is continuing. In parallel, FENZ is urging the union to suspend its planned one-hour strikes. “We also call on the NZPFU to call off its planned strikes for this Friday and Boxing Day. It’s reckless for the union to keep putting the community at risk while we’re engaged in independent facilitation to help us reach a settlement. Fire and Emergency will continue to engage in the facilitation process in good faith with the goal of reaching a fair and sustainable settlement. At the same time, we will do everything necessary to protect our team members and the wider public against behaviour that puts them in danger,” Gregory said.
The NZPFU rejects FENZ’s account and said it will contest the legal action. The union said FENZ filed an urgent ERA application on Dec. 17 “as its latest salvo against the NZPFU and its members.” The union added: “We deny the allegations, and the legal action will be defended.”
In its response, the NZPFU emphasises that cooperation between paid and volunteer staff remains strong. “Contrary to the allegations, career firefighters and volunteer firefighters have a strong working relationship, and we will continue to foster that relationship,” the union said. It added that the legal move reflects management concern about volunteers’ attitudes toward the dispute rather than a breakdown in day-to-day collaboration. “We believe this legal action is a reflection of FENZ’s increasing frustration with the support many volunteers have articulated or demonstrated in many ways since NZPFU members began taking strike action,” the union said.
The union also said the public release of information about the ERA application is part of a wider pattern. “FENZ immediately issued a public statement across the organisation and to media about their legal action, and that behaviour supports our belief that their end goal is to try and portray conflict and friction when the reality is a camaraderie in their dedication to serving and protecting the public,” the NZPFU said. The union links the dispute to concerns it said are shared by volunteers about funding and asset condition, including fire appliances. “The volunteers are facing many of the same issues that the NZPFU is fighting for and have voiced their frustration that it appears only the NZPFU are fighting against FENZ’s mismanagement of critical funding,” it said.
The NZPFU further alleges that it is FENZ management, not the union, that has attempted to pressure volunteers. “It is FENZ management that are attempting to intimidate volunteers,” the statement said, referring to the 2022 bargaining round when, according to the union, “FENZ threatened volunteers with disciplinary action if they spoke out about the issues they were facing which ran parallel with issues the NZPFU membership was raising, including unsafe and unreliable fire appliances.” The NZPFU added: “FENZ is using every tactic it can muster, but our members will continue to act in a professional way and continue to foster the good working relationships with volunteers.”
The legal action sits alongside ongoing strike action by paid firefighters under ERA-directed facilitation. The strikes are part of negotiations over the NZPFU collective employment agreement. The ERA referred the parties to facilitation on Dec. 5, with initial sessions on Dec. 9 and 10 and further meetings expected.
The dispute covers remuneration, staffing, equipment, and wider workplace issues. Before facilitation began, FENZ’s last public offer was a 6.2% pay increase over three years for paid firefighters. The agency said this would lift average senior firefighter base pay from about $80,700–$87,400 to $85,800–$92,900, excluding overtime and allowances, with overtime and other allowances currently adding an average of $38,800 a year. FENZ has described the package as “fair, sustainable, and reasonable, and in line with other settlements across the public service,” and has outlined capital and operating expenditure on fleet, station infrastructure and training, stating that more than 90% of its $857.9 million operating budget for 2025/26 is directed to frontline operations and supporting roles.
The NZPFU has pushed back on FENZ’s public narrative. National secretary Wattie Watson has told members that the union will participate in facilitation “in good faith, as we have all bargaining,” but alleges FENZ “continues to put false information in the public arena” and said the union will “use this opportunity to expose any such dishonesty before the authority member.” Watson cites “distrust and the plummeting morale in the workplace” and said pay alone will not address relationship issues inside the organisation.
For New Zealand insurers and intermediaries, the dispute has implications for operational risk and for the longer-term settings of the fire and emergency levy that underpins FENZ funding. FENZ is primarily financed through insurance-based levies, with around 95% of its operating income collected via charges on home, contents, and motor policies and the remainder from government and other non-levy sources. The agency reports a workforce of about 14,900 personnel, a fleet of roughly 1,300 appliances across close to 600 stations, and responses to around 89,000 incidents annually.
Any settlement that materially increases operating expenditure on an ongoing basis – whether through higher pay, changes to rosters, expanded staffing, or additional fleet and station investment – may, over time, influence the level of fire and emergency levies embedded in property and motor premiums.
For now, ERA facilitation, the progress of the legal proceedings, and decisions by the NZPFU on strike action will shape how the dispute develops. Insurance professionals may monitor developments in funding requirements, any changes to levy settings, and potential impacts on the cost and structure of fire-related cover within New Zealand’s levy-based model.
