Paid firefighters face furloughs
Uniontown informed its firefighter’s union the day before negotiations began for a new contract that all career firemen will be laid off and replaced with a volunteer fire department. The city presented the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) – Local 955 with a letter about the layoffs on Wednesday and the city’s labor relations attorney met with the union’s attorney and an arbitrator to negotiate a new contract in Pittsburgh on Thursday.
The city’s letter to the union says the layoffs will occur sometime 31 days after Aug. 25 and before Dec. 31.
The existing three-year contract between the city and the IAFF expires on Dec. 31 this year.
IAFF Local 955 attorney Joshua Bloom said City Council is retaliating against the paid firemen by trying to lay them off, which requires a referendum, and the move doesn’t make sense because the city received a federal grant to recall the firemen who are laid off now.
“The union believes this is retaliation for the firefighters engaging in labor practices,” Bloom said.
Specifically, the retaliation is due to a June ruling from the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board ordering the city to reinstate assistant fire chief Myron Nypaver as chief and code enforcement officer, Bloom said, noting that the city has appealed that ruling.
Nypaver and other firefighters who worked as code officers generated “a couple hundred thousand dollars” in revenue for the city when they were in charge of code enforcement, Bloom said. “Now, the city gets nothing,” he said.
The city was awarded a $632,835 grant from the U.S. Homeland Security Department’s Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program to recall laid off firemen in May.
In addition, Bloom said, the General Municipal Code requires voters to approve a referendum to lay off a career fire department.
“A paid fire department can only be disbanded by referendum,” Bloom said, adding that the city’s volunteer firefighters are not trained to drive the fire trucks.
City Councilman Gary Gearing, the public safety director, said the letter to the union was prepared in accordance with the contract, which requires the city to provide 30 days advanced notice of any layoffs, and it is part of the negotiating process.
“The letter is just following the process and procedure of the contact,” Gearing said.
Labor relations attorney Bernie Schneider, who council hired in July, is negotiating the contract on the city’s behalf, Gearing said.
The attorneys and arbitrator will negotiate and layoffs are possible, but it will be up to council to approve any proposed resolution, he said.
“There was a labor relations hearing this morning on a new contract,” Gearing said. “The letter speaks for itself. We’re under contract negotiations.”
Regarding the referendum, Gearing said: “I believe that’s correct. It (the fire department) can be reduced to one (firefighter). Disbanding needs a referendum.”
He said council has not accepted the SAFER grant and will lose it if it is not accepted by Sept. 30.
“You use it or lose it by Sept. 30,” Gearing said.
Council laid off 31 employees, including three career firefighters, in October 2008 after Mayor Ed Fike reported the city inherited more than $1 million in unpaid bills from the previous administration.
Ten more employees including four more firemen were laid off in February 2009. All seven were recalled through negotiations in March 2009, but council laid off all seven in December that year.
Two were recalled in March this year and one fireman retired this year.