In this edition - On behalf of members, I acknowledge Commissioner Leach’s work in the role since his appointment in 2019. I personally thank the Commissioner for his candid engagement with me on your behalf on the range of difficult challenges that faced him in his tenure.

In this edition - This Monday, 02 September 2023 is the King’s Birthday Public Holiday. UFUQ members should be aware that the King’s Birthday does not attract the same penalties as other public holidays.

In this edition - I am pleased that after almost two years of positive discussions with the state government and QFES, decisions on an expanded range of uses for the increase in firefighter numbers can start to be reported to you and your colleagues. There will be a series of Code 2’s providing specific detail on how the new numbers are being, and will be, used.

In this edition - Your union wrote to the Commissioner on 12 September 2023 requesting that he confirm whether the COLA payments, which were fought for and won by your union, would be calculated on your average standardised wage rate.

In this edition - On September 11 2001, after coordinated terrorist attacks on United States soil, the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan collapsed. As a result, more than 2500 people were killed and many thousands more were injured, including 343 fallen comrades from the New York City Fire Department who put themselves in harm’s way to protect the lives of those victims.