Professional firefighters say staff are being forced to use food banks because wages are so low.
It comes as the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) encourages its members to vote against a new collective agreement.
The union said Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) was not committing to increasing critically-low staff numbers or lifting wages.
"Firefighters come to me and say, 'My pay and my wages are so low, I've had to use food banks to get me through a week'. Because their pay is so low, they can't afford their rent or mortgage," said Martin Campbell of the NZPFU.
That's despite working high-pressure, high-risk jobs.
FENZ disputes allegations of low wages, saying staff have access to support services. When it comes to staff numbers, FENZ said it always has contingencies in place - something it earlier reiterated to Newshub.
"Stations are backed-up by other stations," FENZ chief executive Kerry Gregory said in February. "If we have a lot of people off we just bring people in from further afield to support that."
But the union said that support wasn't enough as it prepared to vote on the collective agreement, and warned strike action could follow.
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