About 1500 firefighters clad in yellow jackets and sunglasses have shut down parts of Melbourne’s CBD amid a bitter dispute between their union and the Victorian government.

The protest is believed to be the largest by the United Firefighters Union, with workers bussed in from across the state.

Cries of “shame” and “union power” rang out as speakers blasted stalled negotiations over a new enterprise agreement the union claims has been “ripped up” and puts safety at risk.

Workers rallied at the fire station in East Melbourne before marching to parliament and then to the Fair Work Commission.

“The hypocrisy is breathtaking,” the union’s Victorian branch secretary Peter Marshall told the crowd.

He said firefighters had been negotiating with Fire Rescue Victoria for two years across 76 meetings and reached agreement on all but two matters but the organisation and government then “reneged”.

The points of disagreement are pay and allowances and the union wants fair work to arbitrate.

“Instead of supporting professional firefighters as they confronted the coming bushfire season, (Fire Rescue Victoria) Commissioner Gavin Freeman and Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes have stabbed them in the back and have thrown two years of hard work into the flames,” Mr Marshall said.

The fire and rescue service had been authorised to put forward a pay offer in line with the state government’s wages policy of three per cent, less than half the union’s claim of seven per cent for the next four years.

“Our priority is for (Fire Rescue Victoria) to continue to negotiate with the representatives of their employees on that offer,” a government spokesperson said.

The union has also been locked in a long-running dispute with the Victorian government about presumptive cancer laws that were recently expanded to cover 15 diseases, with the union wanting that bumped up to 20.

The scheme means firefighters diagnosed with certain cancers will be presumed to have developed their condition because of their work and are eligible for compensation.

Some 211 claims were processed in Victoria between 2019 and June 2023.

The union was a key ally of the Andrews government when it came to power in 2014 but the relationship has soured over the 2016 Country Fire Authority pay deal, restructuring of state fire services and expansion of presumptive rights to fire service-affiliated mechanics.

– AAP