Arizona Local Regains Meet and Confer Rights

A hundred PFFA fire fighters attended a Maricopa City Council meeting to support Maricopa Local 4561 as they fought for meet and confer rights and to keep fire and police separate.

March 24, 2008 -- Buckling under pressure from the Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona (PFFA) and Maricopa, AZ Local 4561, the Maricopa City Council has voted unanimously to grant Local 4561 meet and confer rights.

“I believe we owe our success here to political savvy,” says Richard Jackson, president of Local 4561. “We have had our share of issues and we have learned some valuable lessons. Political action is a powerful weapon when it comes to protecting members.”

Until nine months ago, Maricopa fire fighters were governed and funded by a fire district. Under the fire district system, the fire fighters had meet and confer rights.

But Maricopa’s mayor and other City leaders moved to bring in fire fighters as City employees. At the time, City officials assured Maricopa Local 4561 that meet and confer rights and other benefits would be kept in tact.

To fund the fire department, the City proposed a special tax on a mid-year 2007 election ballot. “As a show of good faith, we campaigned in favor of the measure,” says Jackson. “It was our support that helped garner 96 percent of the vote.”

However, nine months later, the City still had not agreed to meet and confer with Maricopa fire fighters. That left Local 4561 without a labor-management agreement (Memorandum of Understanding) as the City began planning the next fiscal year budget.

Meanwhile, eight weeks ago, the City of Maricopa appointed a new city manager – Kevin Evans – who immediately began championing the idea to bring police and fire together under one public safety department. Fire fighters and police officers would be cross-trained.

“That is the straw that broke the camel’s back,” says PFFA Executive Vice President Bryan Jeffries. “The City was not making good on its promises to our fire fighters and were threatening to consolidate fire and police.”

More than 100 PFFA fire fighters turned out for the next City Council meeting to support Jeffries and Johnson who spoke out about their concerns surrounding the lack of meet and confer and the proposal to merge fire and police.

“At least 180 municipalities have tried the joint public safety department system -- 47 of those are already making plans to reinstate separate police and fire,” says Jeffries. “The system doesn’t work because the responsibilities of the two are so different. It also complicates mutual aid response and renders it almost ineffective.”

Jackson says, “Maricopa is a growing community. Fire fighters need to be at the table when important decisions are made regarding changes. We can’t lose sight of our overarching mission: to serve and protect our citizens.”

After hearing fire fighter arguments on March 18, the Maricopa City Council voted unanimously to return meet and confer rights to the fire fighters. In addition, while both police and fire will still report to the public safety director, services will be kept separate and cross-training remains voluntary.