Collective bargaining between Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) and the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) remains at a halt, with no dates set for further negotiations and union industrial action scheduled to continue. The current bargaining round follows the expiry of the 2021-24 collective agreement on June 30, 2024, and comes on top of an earlier cycle that began in 2019. The issues in dispute now cover remuneration, staffing, work health and safety, and aspects of organisational structure and resourcing.
The parties entered facilitation under the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) in December 2025, following industrial action that began in August 2025. According to the NZPFU, the parties met in facilitation on seven occasions, most recently on Feb. 13, 2026, before the process was adjourned. The union has said the facilitation “was not successful” and that bargaining is now “in abeyance” with no agreed timetable. In parallel, the NZPFU and the Public Service Association (PSA) are challenging a FENZ restructuring proposal at the ERA that could disestablish about 140 roles and affect roughly 700 positions, largely in non‑operational functions. As of mid‑March 2026, no successor collective agreement is in place for the post‑June 30, 2024, period, facilitation is paused, the restructure challenge remains before the ERA, and industrial measures are ongoing.
Following NZPFU membership meetings in February, the union put forward a proposal to change the way the parties were engaging. In a letter to FENZ, NZPFU national secretary Wattie Watson proposed involving a third party who assisted in resolving the 2022 bargaining dispute. The union described this person as “highly respected and experienced” and “pivotal” to the 2022 settlement. Under the proposed process, the third party would work with both sides to develop a joint proposal on what the union sees as key areas preventing agreement, and would assist with any joint presentations required under current government “guidelines.” The NZPFU said that, because of this person’s earlier involvement, only a limited update on current circumstances would be required.
According to the union, FENZ has rejected the renewed involvement of that third party, stating he would not be engaged “given his past history with the parties.” The NZPFU has questioned that position, saying that history and familiarity with the issues formed the basis of its suggestion. The union has also contrasted FENZ’s current approach with comments made at the time of the 2022 settlement. Then, chief executive Kerry Gregory said he was “excited by the settlement” and that it addressed “significant change in the working environment for firefighters… and addresses key issues,” including matters related to safe staffing and the condition of the fire appliance fleet. The NZPFU further alleges that FENZ has moved away from what the union terms an “agreement in principle” for more than 200 additional firefighters and 111 emergency call centre dispatchers, and says concerns about the fleet’s state continue.
The two sides also differ over how negotiations should restart and who should put forward the next substantive proposal. In a March 5, 2026, email, Gregory advised the NZPFU that FENZ’s bargaining team had reviewed its position and was working on a revised offer. “We are planning for the offer to be tabled at facilitation,” he wrote, adding that “on condition of returning to facilitation with a new offer we ask that the NZPFU withdraw all industrial action, and commit to pausing future action while the facilitation process is ongoing.” The NZPFU has said it replied that it was willing to meet FENZ in bargaining, rather than in facilitation, for any revised position to be presented. The union now says FENZ has taken the view that the NZPFU should table a revised offer first, with any future facilitation to follow.
In a recent online meeting, the union says it asked Gregory and deputy national commander Megan Stiffler to agree to dates for direct bargaining, without involving the proposed third party and outside the facilitation process, so that FENZ could table any new proposal. According to the NZPFU, no clear commitment was given. The union says Stiffler “thanked us for setting out our expectations,” and that the meeting ended when Gregory left for a pre‑arranged meeting with “The Minister.”
The NZPFU maintains that it is open to continued negotiations. It has outlined several elements it considers necessary for a settlement, including safe staffing across work groups, involvement in planning and procurement for appliances, provisions on training, explicit recognition of occupational cancer and access to mental health programmes within the collective agreement, coverage of members not currently included, and what it describes as “fair and reasonable wages,” noting that members “have not had a pay increase since July 2023.”
The bargaining impasse is occurring alongside an evolving programme of industrial action. The NZPFU has issued a new notice of action to begin on March 23, 2026, introducing bans on administrative and other non‑emergency duties. These measures will operate alongside existing national one‑hour stoppages at midday every Monday and Friday at career‑staffed stations, which have been in place since 2025. The union has said it does not expect the public to see material changes to emergency services as a result of the new bans, which are directed at non‑response work.
According to the NZPFU, more than 93% of members who attended 25 meetings across its 19 locals in February voted to support both the additional bans and the continuation of the rolling one‑hour strikes. In correspondence with FENZ, Watson said members would “continue to fight for a fair and reasonable collective agreement that includes the necessary safe systems of work.” The union has withdrawn some earlier forms of industrial action that did not affect emergency response, citing the effect of ongoing pay deductions on lower‑paid members. It has, however, confirmed that one‑hour full stoppages will continue. FENZ has indicated it may deduct wages for the hours during which staff participate in those stoppages.
The dispute is developing within FENZ’s existing levy‑funded framework and previously reported pay proposals. Stiffler has said FENZ sought facilitation because there was “a significant gap between what we were offering and the NZPFU’s expectations.” Before facilitation commenced, FENZ outlined a three‑year remuneration package that it said would deliver an average 6.2% increase and align with other recent public‑sector settlements. FENZ has said this was around three times lower than the NZPFU’s proposed settlement.
Under that proposal, FENZ indicated that average senior firefighter base salaries would move from about $81,000-$87,000 to approximately $86,000-$93,000 across the term, excluding overtime and allowances. It has also said that overtime and allowances add close to $39,000 on average to annual pay, and that average senior firefighter remuneration has increased by about 37% over the past decade. FENZ has stated that it believes industrial action should be suspended while facilitation is in progress.
The bargaining is taking place under a funding model in which around 95% of FENZ’s operating revenue is collected through levies on home, contents, and motor insurance policies, with the balance coming from other government and non‑levy sources. FENZ operates a workforce of about 14,900 personnel, a fleet of roughly 1,300 appliances, and close to 600 stations, responding to around 89,000 incidents each year. Any settlement that alters permanent pay scales, workforce composition, or role design could influence FENZ’s long‑term cost base. Potential responses to higher ongoing costs include levy adjustments, additional Crown funding, or changes to spending priorities within FENZ. Each option would have different implications for service provision and for how costs are allocated between insured and uninsured property owners.
