CODE 2, VOL 37, NO 25 : 12 december 2023

FIRE COMMUNICATIONS UPDATE:

• Supervisors & FTE
• Fire Communications senior manager
• Clause 95 review
• TORP & FORP

Many members have been contacting your representatives and the State UFUQ asking about the matters listed in the title above, and I am happy to provide as much detail as I possibly can on all these matters in this update.

Supervisor positions:
With CA22 providing that every centre will have a supervisor on every shift, the wheels are now in motion to start complying with clause 111.  I can announce to you all that agreement between your union and QFES has been reached on the following roll out of numbers in the timelines indicated.

Between March and June 2024, a recruitment and selection process will be run to (hopefully) identify and appoint the first round of two supervisors to each of the Far North, North, Central and South West Regions (8 of the 20 FTE).

Then between July 2024 and June 2025, a further six supervisors will be identified through a second recruitment and selection process, with two each for Far North, Central and South West Regions (6 of the FTE).

A recruitment process to replace the 14 FCO’s who will be moving to FCS (dependent of course upon that number of FCO’s successfully attaining merit within the recruitment and selection process) in that period will also commence, with Managers and the CTDU currently in negotiations about numbers, timing of recruit courses and other matters that may impact the uplift required.

More information will be released by QFES and your union on the supervisor uplift as soon as possible.  But if you are an FCO in one of the centres getting supervisors, it’s time to start preparing for your application to be submitted in a little over two months from now.

FTE:
The 14 FTE taken up by the supervisors means there is six FTE remaining and placement of five of those six FTE has also been agreed between the UFUQ and QFES.

The following locations will all receive an additional 0.5 FTE to assist with rostering –
- Far North
- North
- Central
- North Coast
- South West
- CTDU

Additionally, Brisbane and South East Regions will both receive 1.0 FTE as part of the uplift. There will be a separate announcement providing further details on why this is happening, as soon as some other arrangements can be finalised and a further agreement between the UFUQ and QFES can be reached.

Fire Communications State Manager:
Finally, with the move in QFD to returning communications to a state reporting line, within the Fire and Rescue State Operations area, 1 FTE will go to establishing a new Fire Communications manager position (no specific details about this position have yet been agreed, the role does not yet have a title). This position will have all FCM’s reporting to it, and the person will report directly to the AC of State Operations. Again, there will be further detail published about this position once some further discussions have reached agreement.

That position represents the 20th FTE, and fulfills the 20 FTE provided for in clause 111 of CA22.  All these appointments have been negotiated in a positive way between the UFUQ and QFES and are agreed between the parties.

Clause 95 review:
The workshop held on 6 December at the State UFUQ office was a very positive process.  Five of the seven regions, and one state unit were represented at the workshop.

The UFUQ acknowledges the valuable assistance provided by Rebecca Wilson from the QFES/QFD organisational design team, who was an independent facilitator for the day.  Rebecca provided very effective facilitative processes for the workshop participants to go through and without her assistance, the amount of content and detail covered would not have been achieved.

The content from the day is being developed into a Terms of Reference (required by clause 95(2)) and this document will be sent to all members as soon as it has been completed (likely early 2024).  The Terms of Reference includes the what, the who and the when, so all members will be able to focus on engaging in the review in accordance with the Terms of Reference.

I ask that you hold off on starting to question the review process until you’ve received the Terms of Reference for your reference. However as always, your elected representatives FCM Alene Arends in Townsville and FCO Tris Brougham in Cairns can always be contacted if you’ve got something you’d like shared with the UFUQ, or you can email ufu@ufuq.com.au and we will work with the representatives to get you a response.

With the positive outcomes in CA22, including these, and (for example) time off-console on night shift) there’s no doubt this is a period of great recognition for you and your colleague’s work. And that’s going to continue with the clause 95 review.

TORP/FORP:
There are discussions under way between QFES and the UFUQ about the new draft FORP document.  These discussions started as a result of the significant amount of feedback being given to both QFES and your union about when a centre will TORP or FORP and when they won’t. Your union expects these discussions to conclude in late January and we will make further announcements about that matter as soon as we can.

Questions?
Much of this information may leave you with questions. I ask that you either hold off on asking them until more updates can be provided, or if you cannot wait, to contact your representatives as mentioned above, but to be clear, if what you’re seeking is not in this update, it’s likely because it’s not yet resolved. But of course, all matters will be resolved and your union will always push for the best possible outcomes for all members.

John Oliver - General Secretary