PLANNED burns this week by the DSE are under threat due to industrial action being taken by park rangers.

At issue are jobs cuts, with the Community and Public Sector Union saying the state government wants to burn more areas with fewer staff and for less pay.

State secretary Karen Batt said the government will fall well short of the 390,000 hectares the bushfire royal commission recommended for this financial year.

So far only 80,000 hectares have been burned, Ms Batt said.

Cancelled weekend burns will include nine hectares of Stewart Track in the Dandenongs and a total of 500 hectares on French Island, she said.

She said department staff on contracts were among the public servants the government wants to put off.

"They want us to burn more with less staff and pay us less," Ms Batt said.

She said New Zealand fire fighters brought to Victoria for training may unwittingly be caught up in the action, with the department planning to deploy them in the Wimmera and Otway districts this week.

The park rangers' bans means they will not participate in controlled or prescribed burns.