White-collar workers at Fire Rescue Victoria who have been waiting five years for a pay rise have urged the government to intervene as they argue union boss Peter Marshall is stalling their negotiations.

A protracted dispute over the state’s firefighters will also rage for longer as the union moves to protect controversial veto clauses featured in two reports by the state’s corruption watchdog.

Corporate and technical staff at FRV, which includes roles in administration, support, legal and technology, have been due for a new enterprise agreement since 2021 but the United Firefighters Union has not put a deal to staff for a vote despite half a decade of negotiations.

Frustrated staff have signed a petition, seen by The Age, calling on the agency and state government to bypass the union and put a deal directly to staff.

The delay has meant staff have not had a pay rise, including for inflation, since 2021.

Two FRV staffers, speaking anonymously to avoid repercussions from the union, said they believed Marshall was reluctant to finalise the deal while he waited for the result of a separate pay dispute involving the state’s paid firefighters.

That agreement, which has dragged on since 2022, is being considered by the Fair Work Commission, which typically would limit the United Firefighters Union’s ability to campaign on FRV worksites.

But FRV corporate staff said that their EBA negotiations were acting as a loophole that allowed the union to keep using posters and perform other campaign activities that were not permitted for operational staff such as firefighters.

One source said their pay deal was being dragged out as an unofficial bargaining tool for the firefighters.

“We are simply fodder for uniformed staff,” one said.

Under typical arrangements, the union negotiates with FRV and ultimately decides when a pay deal is acceptable to put to the workforce for a vote. But this has not happened in five years of negotiations, prompting the petition from 160 staff.

They asked the emergency services minister and FRV to make an offer directly to staff, bypassing the union entirely.

A Fire Rescue Victoria spokesperson said they acknowledged the concerns raised by corporate and technical staff.

“FRV understands that the prolonged industrial negotiations have been challenging for our corporate and technical workforce,” they said.

“We have bargained in good faith with the UFU for a replacement enterprise agreement since 2021 and have put forward seven offers, including our most recent in January 2026.

FRV’s latest offer to the union was made on August 14 and the union advised it would respond by Friday.

However on the union’s public website they describe the current offer as “not good enough”, sparking concerns employees will not get a chance to vote as requested.

“FRV’s offer doesn’t come close to compensating you for the last six years,” the website says.

The offer includes an $8000 lump sump payment and back pay to January. Wages would increase by 6 per cent in 2026 and 3 per cent in 2027, 2028 and 2029.

Marshall has been contacted for comment.

A Victorian government spokesperson said the negotiations had dragged on for too long.

“The ball is now in the UFU’s court – FRV has made seven offers to resolve this agreement and deliver the pay rises workers deserve,” they said.

Marshall’s protracted dispute over another pay deal for his firefighters will also drag out further after new federal legislation forced the Fair Work Commission to reconsider his arguments.

It has also raised the prospect that he will be able to preserve some of the most contentious parts of the union’s current agreement, which featured in two IBAC reports and which the government has sought to unwind.

The firefighters’ pay deal in 2025 was sent to the Fair Work Commission after the union and the Victorian government were unable to reach an agreement.

Marshall in 2022 sought annual pay rises for firefighters of 8.6 per cent but refused to budge on removing other conditions, including controversial “consult and agree” clauses inserted into Country Fire Authority and Metropolitan Fire Brigade pay deals before Fire Rescue Victoria was created.

Two separate IBAC reports into the United Firefighters Union have discussed these clauses and concerns that they effectively gave the union veto rights over key decisions made by the government and department.

Operation Richmond, an investigation that started in 2018 and was released just last month, showed Marshall was particularly resistant to removing these clauses, despite them being opposed by the CFA, MFB and the late Jane Garrett, who was minister at the time.

As relations with Marshall soured, the Victorian government in 2025 sought to remove these clauses through the intractable bargaining process at the Fair Work Commission, backtracking on one of the key issues that had sparked the 2016 CFA pay deal saga in the first place.

The union secretary then spent 12 months urging federal MPs on the crossbench to add new “no worse off” laws to the Fair Work Commission process, which he argues now mean his veto clauses cannot be removed.

The legislation was passed in June and the change means the pay deal with Victorian firefighters, which is now four years overdue, has been delayed further. The Fair Work Commission had been deliberating on the matter since December.

A FRV spokesperson said the timeline for these negotiations was beyond their control.

They said recent federal changes meant the Fair Work Commission had invited them to make further submissions.

“Firefighters have made it clear they want their terms and conditions finalised as soon as possible, and FRV shares this goal,” they said.