Draft arbitration terms presented by the government in an attempt to end months of bargaining across the public sector have left unions fuming, with two signalling they would not agree to proceed unless conditions were also included.
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Premier Will Hodgman announced Wednesday he was cancelling a meeting with unions planned for this week and would instead seek to refer the matter to the Tasmanian Industrial Commission.
Unions and the government are required to agree on the terms of reference before a joint request can be made for the independent umpire to step in. Mr Hodgman also did not rule out job cuts Wednesday if bigger pay rises were handed down as a result.
Speaking in Launceston on Friday, United Firefighters Union of Australia's Northern Tasmanian organiser Dennis Mullins said they would "certainly not" take the government up on the current terms, which would see arbitration limited to wages alone.
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"Most of the things that impact on the firefighters are things to do with lack of a career path, lack of structure, lack of a proper classification system," he said, adding incremental pay points found elsewhere in the public sector had been sought for some time.
Still, Mr Mullins said the state had seen below inflation pay rises since 2011 leaving the average Tasmanian firefighter $15,000 behind those in the rest of the country.
"It must stop," he said. "These guys are here and their primary aim in life is to serve their community. To be placed into a situation where they have to fight with the employer instead of doing the job that they want to do comes at quite a huge emotional cost."
Firefighter and workplace delegate Jeremy Patterson said the approximately 60 firefighters based in the city had worked "most days in January" in good faith to help the community, at the expense of their own families.
"And now this is what's going on," Mr Patterson said. "They're pretty angry."
An online survey was expected to be sent to members Thursday to inform a decision around extending work bans and limitations.
Health and Community Services Union secretary Tim Jacobson said conditions were the "big missing part of the picture" and showed a government that "cared more about its balance sheet than anything else".
Mr Jacobson said circumstances for ambulance crews were getting "worse by the day" and the mental health of members over the short and long term was "probably the biggest concern" he had.
On Wednesday, Community and Public Sector Union general secretary Tom Lynch said he was hopeful the dispute could be settled before Christmas.
Responding to questions Friday, a government spokesperson would not be drawn on whether conditions could be included in the Industrial Commission terms of reference.
"With a view to resolving this dispute as soon as possible, the government believes this matter should now be referred to the Tasmanian Industrial Commission for arbitration," the spokesperson said.
"The government has written to union leaders with a draft Terms of Reference for arbitration so the matter of public sector wage rises can be independently determined."
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