Bulletin 21 - Intractable Bargaining Declaration - issued 7 September 2026

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has issued an Intractable Bargaining Declaration in relation to negotiations for the Firefighters Enterprise Agreement.

As outlined in Bulletin 20, if the United Workers Union (UWU) was not prepared to support the proposed agreement, I indicated that I would proceed with an application for an intractable bargaining declaration under s 235 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). As the UWU did not provide that confirmation, this application was made.

What is an intractable bargaining declaration?

An intractable bargaining declaration is made by the FWC when it determines that bargaining for a new enterprise agreement has reached a deadlock and the parties are unlikely to reach agreement without further assistance.

Why has an intractable bargaining declaration been made?

Enterprise agreement negotiations for firefighters have been underway for approximately 14 months.

During this period:

• multiple bargaining meetings were held
• several offers were made
• employee ballots were conducted
• the parties participated in FWC-assisted conferences to resolve the dispute.

Despite these efforts, the parties were unable to reach an overall agreement on the terms of a new enterprise agreement.

As a result, I applied to the FWC to resolve the dispute through the intractable bargaining provisions.

On 4 September 2026, the FWC issued an Intractable Bargaining Declaration, having found that there was no reasonable prospect of agreement being reached without the declaration.

What does this mean for employees?

The current enterprise agreement has passed its nominal expiry date but continues to operate until it is replaced by a new enterprise agreement or another legally binding industrial instrument.

The Intractable Bargaining Declaration brings an immediate end to all protected industrial action associated with this bargaining process. Employees, the UWU and the employer can no longer take, organise or participate in protected industrial action in support of bargaining while the declaration remains in force.

This means the protected industrial action associated with the bargaining campaign must cease, including:

• wearing union campaign shirts in place of the approved NT Fire and Rescue Service uniform, including union hat
• displaying non-permanent or removable messages on NT Fire and Rescue Service vehicles
• bans on moving vehicles for maintenance or servicing
• bans on making entries into the Station Management System and myRoster
• bans on compliance with the employer limiting the use of station wellbeing and recreation facilities at times where employees are not attending emergency call outs
• bans on the performance of duties during community engagement events and ‘Come and Try Days’
• bans on the performance of physical testing of recruits and recruit squad training
• work stoppages
• participation in demonstrations and rallies conducted as protected industrial action
• any other protected industrial action authorised in support of enterprise bargaining.

The UWU has confirmed that industrial action has ceased and members are aware of the above information.

Employees are reminded that normal workplace policies and obligations continue to apply, including Employment Instruction 12 – Code of Conduct. Employees are expected to comply with requirements relating to professional conduct, public comment, engagement with the media and use of social media.

What happens next?

The FWC has provided a further opportunity for the parties to resolve the outstanding matters in the post-declaration negotiation period, commencing 4 September 2026 and ending on 25 September 2026.

If agreement can be reached, the normal enterprise agreement approval process will continue.

If agreement is not reached, the matter will proceed to an Intractable Bargaining Workplace Determination (IBWD). An IBWD is a legally binding decision made by a Full Bench of the FWC that determines the terms and conditions of employment that would otherwise have formed part of the enterprise agreement.

It is important that employees understand that in making a workplace determination, the outcome will be decided by the FWC. No party can guarantee what the final terms will be and the determination may include terms that differ from the offers made by either party.