Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Aviation Fire Commander Trevor Rogers says aviation firefighters across the county plan to strike next Friday due to staff shortages and safety concerns for travellers

Transcript

Aviation Fire Commander Trevor Rogers says aviation firefighters across the county plan to strike next Friday due to staff shortages and safety concerns for travellers · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: As we know.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: Aviation firefighters, well, we're unsure at this point in time
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: if they are going to be joining their counterparts, our
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Darwin aviation firefighters, if they're going to be joining their
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: counterparts in a national strike that is going to be happening.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: So joining us on the line to tell us a
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: little bit more about the situation is Aviation fire Commander
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Trevor Rodgers. Good morning to you, Trevor.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Good morning Hewy.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: You doing yeah really well, Thanks so much for your
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: time this morning. Trevor, tell us what are what are
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: the firefighters, the aviation firefighters planning to do in terms
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: of this strike.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Well, the intention is to have a strike across Australia
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: at all locations, all twenty seven locations between six am
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: and ten thirty am. That's Australian needs to standards to daylight,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: saves time, a number of reasons why. Essentially, we consider
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: that the safety of the flying public has been compromised
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: as a result of some decisions, staffing decisions that they
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: made by senior management.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: And so Trevor went, exactly, is that is that strike happening?
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: What date?
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so next Friday, the ninth of December. So it's
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Australian news and daylight saving time. So you guys, I
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: think might be half an hour behind yep, so it's
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: probably going to be five thirty to ninth thoot or
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: something like that. Don't quite mean in regards to exact
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: time timelines.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: No, that's all right, we'll be able to find that out. Trevor.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Tell me, you know, are there how many of the
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: aviation firefighters are there in Darwin and are they going
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: to be going on this strike too?
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Certainly if the strike goes head down, will be going
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: on strike. I don't know off hand the exact numbers
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: in dar On at the station itself. I do know
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: as a result of COVID that management saw it upon
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: themselves to reduce the staff numbers. Why about one hundred
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: across Australia, of which I do believe there was about
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: ten or twelve from Darwin that were given the option
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: of leaving and they took that up. Unfortunately, I suppose
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: for the fire service as such, they'd never had any
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: real contingency plans in place. They thought that the aviation
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: industry wouldn't be picking up till twenty four to twenty
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: five because of COVID. Of course, it's happened much sooner
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: and now they're basically caught with their pants and down
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: stratuity expression.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Excuse me, Is it just one day that we're expecting
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: this to happen or is there going to be further strikes?
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Well, at the minute, it's all planned for next Friday
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: of the ninth to December. I can tell you that
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: there are some negotiations going on between now and then.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: The government has asked all parties to get together to
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: try to sort it out prior to that. But at
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the minute, that is the plan next Friday between six
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: and ten am. Depending on how the discussions go along,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: whether or not any further the industrial action has taken.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: I couldn't say for sure, Trevor.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: How much disruption do you reckon it's going to cause
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: on that day?
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Well, if you think about it, there's lots of flights
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: all over Australia at any given time between six and
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: ten am, a lot of international flights arriving and departing, etc.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: It'll come down I suppose, to the carrier, the airline themselves,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: airlines themselves as to whether or not they choose to
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: fly during that period of time. They may decide to
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: take the risk and fly through that period. However, we're
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: taking the safety of the flying public very seriously. We
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: wouldn't do this lightly. The fact that if the airlines
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: decide to fly as opposed to not. From a commercial
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: point of view, you can understand that from a safety
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: point of view, it doesn't make sense at all.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Trevor. Sorry, I've got a bit of a frog in
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: my throat, mate, just having a quiet choke while while
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: interviewing you now, so just excuse me. So obviously next
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Friday this is happening. Is there any way that this
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: is avoidable, that this strike action could be avoidable?
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Well, yes there is if, as I said, when the
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: party is getting together. In fact, I think there's another
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: meeting today. If the concerns of the union are met
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: through via the management, well then there's every chance that
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the strike will be postpone, delayed, or canceled. It will
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: depend on the conversations between all parties, and it will
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: depend on whether or not management decide to consider that
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: the safety of the flying public as paramount and therefore
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: they put into place procedures whereby we don't get caught
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: with such a low number of staff. Ever again, and
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: that we can be relying on the numbers of staff
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: that should be available will always be available.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Well, Trevor Rodgers, Aviation Fire Commander, We really appreciate your
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: time this morning. Thanks very much for having a chat
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: with us. Thank you,