The Industrial Relations Commission of NSW (IRC) has handed down its decision on the Awards covering Fire and Rescue NSW firefighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NSW firefighters will receive a 14 per cent wage increase over three years, backdated to February 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This includes a one-off reset of two per cent spread over the life of the three-year Awards, which the IRC found was needed due to cost of living pressures after the former government\u2019s wage decisions artificially repressed pay for the State\u2019s almost 7,000 firefighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minns Labor Government was elected with a mandate to scrap the Coalition\u2019s unfair wages cap for essential workers and reestablish the Industrial Relations Commission as an independent umpire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decision will deliver a four per cent pay rise backdated to February 2024, four per cent from February 2025 and three per cent in the final year from February 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The IRC has also awarded an additional three per cent increase from 2026 to recognise firefighters\u2019 competency in road crash rescue work. The Commission found road crash rescue is now a core function of the role, mandating its payment to all firefighters in recognition of the scope of work of modern firefighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This decision of the IRC reflects the vital role all firefighters can now play in responding to motor vehicle accidents, saving lives by extracting people from crashes sooner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minns Labor Government is committed to ensuring a fair, modern and sustainable wages policy for all workers, consistent with our Fair Pay and Bargaining Policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minister for Industrial Relations Sophie Cotsis said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI welcome today\u2019s IRC decision delivering wage certainty for our firefighters, including an important recognition of the work they do in road crash rescues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Minns Labor Government continues the work of rebuilding the state’s essential services and reforming the industrial relations system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat work began with the scrapping of the Coalition\u2019s wages cap which was in place for 12 years, introducing a fairer, modern bargaining framework, and strengthening the Industrial Relations Commission\u2019s ability to ensure there is continued fairness in our public sector workplaces and that services are delivered to the NSW community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were elected on a mandate to fix the recruitment and retention crisis in essential services and that is what we are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister for Emergency Services Jihad Dib said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter more than a decade of an unfair wages cap we are delivering pay increases for frontline firefighters that recognise their work and commitment to our communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis offer increases wages and improves benefits for firefighters across NSW and demonstrates we are delivering a fairer workplace bargaining system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur firefighters provide vital assistance in times of need and the Minns Government continues to support the people who protect and defend NSW communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fire and Rescue NSW Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis outcome recognises the critical work our firefighters to every day to keep NSW communities safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt also provides certainty as we work with the Fire Brigade Employees\u2019 Union to implement the decision and support firefighters across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Industrial Relations Commission of NSW (IRC) has handed down its decision on the Awards covering Fire and Rescue NSW firefighters. NSW firefighters will receive a 14 per cent wage increase over three years, backdated to February 2024. This includes a one-off reset of two per cent spread over the life of the three-year Awards, … Continue reading “NSW Government welcomes pay certainty for firefighters after independent umpire determination”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34308"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34309,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34308\/revisions\/34309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}