Tauranga senior firefighter Steven Opie (left) and Senior Station Officer Curtis van Heyden are among the career firefighters preparing to strike. Photo / Sandra Conchie
Tauranga senior firefighter Steven Opie (left) and Senior Station Officer Curtis van Heyden are among the career firefighters preparing to strike. Photo / Sandra Conchie
As career firefighters prepare to strike this month, a union has revealed staff shortages in Tauranga have led to stations being unable to muster full crews.
Nationwide strike action by unionised firefighters for better pay, staffing, operational resources and conditions is planned for October 17, the New Zealand Professional FirefightersUnion announced this week.
Tauranga area NZPFU secretary Mike Swanson said Greerton Fire Station closed for 24 hours last week due to firefighter shortages.
On September 28, two staff from the Greerton brigade were reassigned to cover a shortage at the Tauranga station.
“Volunteer firefighters couldn’t muster a crew either, resulting in Fenz [Fire and Emergency NZ] having no career or volunteer firefighters available to provide a firefighting crew in the area.”
Swanson said there had been no increase in staff since the late 1980s, despite increases in the city’s population, the number of callouts and extra staff leave entitlements.
Tauranga secretary of the NZ Professional Firefighters Union Mike Swanson.
“Our volunteers do an amazing job, but they’re under pressure and work and family commitments mean they are not always available to cover any absences.”
Swanson said three years ago the union sought an increase in the number of career firefighters nationwide.
Swanson said Fire and Emergency had now doubled back on its 2022 increased staffing agreement and cancelled the January 2026 career recruits course.
He said it was a daily struggle to get sufficient coverage in Tauranga, as well as for on-call mechanics to keep the “ageing” vehicle fleet operational – a burning wire forced one appliance off the road while returning from a callout in June.
Burning wiring forced Tauranga's relief fire truck off the road for urgent repairs in June. Photos / Supplied
“If there is a house fire, we must have four firefighters on the ground – two to enter the structure and two outside for safety reasons. That’s the legal requirement under health and safety regulations.”
He said for this reason, it was not uncommon for fire crews from Tauranga, Greerton and Mount Maunganui stations to all respond to fires reported in buildings.
Swanson said he hoped the strike action would not be needed in having these issues addressed.
Union president Joanne Watson said the strike was planned from noon to 1pm on October 17, unless an agreement could be reached in bargaining.
Watson said union members have not received a pay increase since July 2023 and Fire and Emergency’s June 13 offer, equivalent to 5% over five years with no backdating, was rejected by 99% of the members.
NZ Professional Firefighters Union national secretary Joanne Watson. Photo / Supplied
She said staffing was a “key part” of the 2022 bargaining settlement, which resulted in an “agreement in principle” by Fire and Emergency to increase firefighting ratios, which would result in up to 235 extra paid firefighters being employed nationally.
“We are ready and waiting for Fenz to present their new offer.”
Fire and Emergency deputy national commander Megan Stiffler told the Bay of Plenty Times the Bay of Plenty district was currently “fully staffed” by paid firefighters.
Stiffler said of the 13,500 firefighters nationwide, 1800 were paid.
“At this time, we are comfortable that we have the appropriate number of paid firefighters.”
She said the January 2026 career recruits’ course would not proceed because there were “insufficient vacancies” to warrant it, and many districts had more staff than available positions.
“In April 2026, 18 new paid firefighters will be going through training.”
Stiffler said the organisation utilised overtime, callbacks and moved people and resources around to cover absences due to illness, training or leave.
“Community safety is of the utmost priority to Fire and Emergency, and we want to reassure the public that we will do our best to maintain services during this period of industrial action.”
Stiffler said the rejected offer was a 5.1% pay increase over the next three years, as well as increases to some allowances.
Fire and Emergency considered the offer sustainable, and balanced individuals’ cost-of-living pressures with the organisation’s fiscal pressures.
Despite Fire and Emergency’s commitment to bringing a revised settlement offer to the table, the union members had elected to withdraw their labour, “compromising” public safety.
“Our goal is and has always been to settle with the NZPFU.”
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She is a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.
