Firefighters And Water For Safety

The Mayor has made a big deal about the need for water availability in case of a fire. Therefore we have to spend money to ensure that the water system is safe. Cannot argue with that.

Well how about the firefighters... aren't they needed too. We can have all the water in the world but if there is a fire we need experienced people to fight it. Do we have money for them?

Here is a letter that a reader sent to me:

• "I know that you were interested in and wrote about the shabby treatment Chief Fields received from the City and I thought that you might be interested in this as well.
  
  The Windsor Fire Fighters contract expired at the end of 2005 and, I believe, is the only one with City employees that hasn't been settled as yet. Could it be because no pressure can be applied (no strike, can't stop writing tickets) or is it possibly a test case for the AMO to see what an Arbitrator will decide regarding some of the City's proposals?
  
  It has happened in the past with various bargaining units where one or two municipalities seem to have been chosen to push one or two issues in order to set a pattern for the rest to follow in the future. They have constantly changed negotiators and cancelled meeting and seem determined to "force" arbitration. So we see two years, possibly going into three without a raise and both sides having to shoulder considerable expense going through this process.
  
  It seems that when other unions in this city are without a contract for 10 days, it is in all of the media and other union leaders are up in arm but this has been dragging on for over a year and a half, and not word from anyone."

To be truthful, I have no idea what is going on in this matter and what is not since the whole story is almost invisible. I expect however that there is more involved than my reader suspects.

I do know that in November, 2006

• "A tentative agreement has been reached between the city and the Windsor Police Association...
  
  
  [Michael] Duben said negotiations with the Windsor firefighters association are also underway, but the issues differ from those that were relevant for police."

Back in 2003, I saw a quote from the president of the Windsor Professional Firefighters Association that said

• "Wage improvements are generally tied to those achieved by the Windsor Police Service."

So presumably there should have been a contract by now. However, the Fire Dept. has had problems with the City. Could it be payback time by the City and that is why there is no contract?

As an example, remember in December, 2005, we had the big "scandal" with firefighter overtime

• "Firefighters are calling in sick too often, according to a city councillor who is raising questions about the fire department's overtime costs of about $800,000 this year.
  
  "There's a suggestion there might be some abuse there and I think we're obliged to follow up and make people accountable," Coun. Alan Halberstadt said."

And if you remember, an outside consultant was brought in to review the Fire Department's operations.

I suspect that there may be some bitterness that goes back to the 2003 negotiations. As quoted in Gord Henderson's column

• "City council was advised in July by its Toronto lawyers that a proposed reduction in the firefighter work week to 42 hours from 48 hours, a move that would have necessitated the hiring of an additional 36 firefighters at enormous cost, "would very well be supported by an arbitrator since Windsor remains one of the few if not the only department on the 48-hour schedule."
  
  Faced with a potential financial disaster, council opted for a carrot and stick strategy. The stick? It was spelled out for firefighter negotiators that if the union extracted a 42-hour week, its members would be required to work as many as four shifts a week, a development that would play havoc with the moonlighting that's a treasured way of life, courtesy of the prevailing two 24-hour shifts...
  
  Little wonder the firefighter association decided the timing was wrong. Little wonder the demanded reduction in the work week just "went away."
  
  But the carrot, the consolation prize for agreeing to retain the 48-hour week, is nothing to sneer at. It includes a "senior firefighter" classification for all firefighters with 10 years of service who've completed an annual qualification test. On top of firefighter salary increases of 3.97 per cent this year, 3.5 per cent next year and 3.5 per cent in 2005, the 50 senior firefighters are getting an extra six per cent this year and 4.5 per cent next April 1. A bonanza."

If you want to read an exchange of letters between the City and the Firefighters Association that shows the futility of their negotiations, go to http://web.mac.com/wpffa/iWeb/Site/Blog/940B80F1-EE5B-42D9-934A-EC603432C7E3.html

I have no solution since I have no real grasp of the situation. My reader stated: "this whole exercise is going beyond ridiculous and I feel that some people should know about it."

Now you do!