The United Firefighters Union has urged professional firefighters to boycott a human rights review into allegations of bullying and sexism in Victorian firefighting agencies, claiming it is part of a media campaign by management to label its members as “misogynistic thugs and bullies”.
The Andrews government asked the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to investigate the Country Fire Authority and Metropolitan Fire Brigade in March in response to allegations of bullying and sexism in the fire services review.
The investigation was commissioned before the long-running industrial dispute between the union and the CFA was catapulted to national attention, with the Andrews government pushing through a union-backed deal and forcing the dismissal of the CFA board and the resignation of the chief executive, chief fire officer and emergency services minister.
But, in a bulletin to its members this week, the union maintained the human rights commission was part of the campaign against it and urged members not to cooperate with the review.
“The UFU does not accept that this review is independent or a genuine attempt by the fire services to investigate these matters, which were raised in a general manner by the fire services review report in March this year,” said the bulletin, authorised by the union’s secretary, Peter Marshall.
“We are also greatly concerned that there does not appear to be any controls or protections in place to ensure full and frank reporting and validation of the outcomes.
“For all these reasons, the UFU is strongly of the view that it is not in members’ interest to participate in the VEOHRC review.”
The commission said the independent equity and diversity review was still in the planning stages but would examine both organisations “with a view to identifying actions that can be taken to promote safety and equality in their respective organisations”.
In an email to staff this week, the chief executive of the MFB, Jim Higgins, said the review would examine “the extent, nature and impact of sexual harassment and discrimination, including bullying, on employees and volunteers of the CFA and MFB”.
The union said it opposed the commission’s involvement because the commission provided a review of the contested enterprise bargaining agreement to the CFA, which suggested some of the clauses were discriminatory against female, elderly or disabled firefighters and could be in violation of the Equal Opportunity Act.
It also said the decision to include volunteers in the human rights review was “a concern.”
The union said it would engage an “independent tertiary institution” to conduct its own “genuine and independent review”.
In a statement, the CFA said it welcomed the commission’s review and encouraged both volunteers and professional firefighters to participate.
