IAFF:Always on the Front Line

Orlando firefighters facing layoffs get temporary reprieve
Orlando Sentinel (08/28/09)
Orlando will not lay off 46 fire fighters and mothball its fleet of ambulances -- at least for now. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer struck a deal with union leaders to temporarily halt the cuts scheduled to take effect October 1. The 11th-hour agreement, which follows months of protests and posturing, calls on the city's 470 fire fighters to give up a combined $685,000 in supplemental pay included in their labor contract. The city agreed to earmark an equal amount toward keeping the fire department operating at the current level. That won't save enough to pay the 46 threatened fire fighters for a full year, but it will delay the pink slips for five months. The Dyer administration hopes the deal buys enough time to find out whether Orlando will receive a federal stimulus grant that could save the fire fighters' jobs permanently.

Binghamton Police & Fire Cuts
FOX 40 News WICZ TV (08/28/09)
Desperate financial times call for desperate measures in the city of Binghamton, according to a new report.
Commission members met with representatives from the police and fire department to try and reduce their budgets by 10 percent, the result of those discussions were released in the commission on personnel costs' final report. Recommendations include looking at starting a 12-hour work schedule for police officers to reduce costs, as well as cutting 10 open positions within the fire department. The commission says the Binghamton professional fire fighters union also played an active role in the discussions. "One less engine showing up, it's the same amount of responsibilities, same amount of tasks needed to be completed, but there'll be less people to do those. It's obviously gonna have an impact on response time," said David Halloran, Binghamton Fire Fighters Union President.

Firefighters deal reached
Denver Daily News (08/28/09)
A tentative agreement has been reached between the city and the firefighters’ union that would save Denver $3.2 million next year. Facing a budget shortfall of $120 million, city officials were forced to call the Denver Fire Fighters Union Local 858 back to the negotiating table to craft a contract that works with the city’s current fiscal woes. Over the next two years, fire fighters would forgo $7 million worth of salary and health benefits in order to keep firehouses open. Union members must still approve the agreement; a vote is expected September 1 and 2. Fire fighters would forgo $3.2 million in salary next year, and another $3.2 million in 2011. Another $600,000 would be saved through modified health care benefits. “Fire safety is very, very important to us, it was critical that we worked on this to keep firehouses open,” a tired Aaron S. Jonke, secretary-treasurer of Local 858, told the Denver Daily News. “We didn’t want a situation where public safety could have been endangered.” Mayor John Hickenlooper was fast to applaud the union for its understanding. “Denver Fire Fighters Local 858 has once again stepped up and helped the city deal with the current fiscal crisis,” said the mayor. “We recognize the hardship this agreement may put on fire fighters and their families, and we are grateful for the public service fire fighters provide to our community.”

Firefighters and city square off in Sterling
WQAD (08/25/09)
A half-dozen fire fighters are ready to hang up their helmets on September 1. They have less than a week on the job after their union and the city couldn't come to terms on concessions that could keep them working. As a dispatcher blares over the speaker, it's the sound of service in Sterling. But as fire fighter Matt Laughlin makes the rounds, his days are numbered. "We enjoy helping people," he said. "And now we've been stripped of that."
The local union president will lose his fire fighting job on September 1 along with five others. And one of the fire stations will close as well. "We feel this is some sort of vendetta against the IAFF Local 2301 here in Sterling," he said. Fire fighters will get a last-minute boost when their Illinois union president will appear in Sterling to voice support for their plight. While Sterling slices more than $750,000 from its budget, it blames the union for not accepting a wage freeze or furlough days.

New Bedford facing furloughs, layoffs
South Coast Today (08/21/09)
Some city employees will be forced to take unpaid furloughs starting next month as the Lang administration implements a set of cuts to close a nearly $3.9 million shortfall in the city's fiscal 2010 budget. The city's fire department will also lose another five fire fighters to layoffs. "We'll certainly work with the union and all the different managers to make sure we put a system in place that will be functional," Lang said.
The furloughs will affect the city's non-union employees as well as members of the city's American Federation of State, Municipal and County Employees union.

Firefighters union: Town trading $120K for safety
Andover Townsman (08/20/09)
The town manager and firefighters' union are expected to meet in an attempt to resolve whether Andover will staff its ladder truck with one or two people. In July, fire Chief Michael Mansfield reassigned the second ladder position to fill vacancies created when other fire fighters call out sick or are on vacation, injury or bereavement leave. The change is expected to reduce the fire department's overtime budget by $120,000. But firefighters' union President Thomas Agnew, a ladder truck operator, has filed a grievance over the reassignment, claiming it puts fire fighters in danger and violates their contract.

Council members call for furloughs
Omaha World Herald (08/19/09)
Calling tax increases a last resort, five Omaha City Council members announced a plan to cut nearly $11.7 million from next year's city budget. The biggest part of their plan is a two-week furlough for all city employees, including police and fire employees. The council members said the furloughs would save the city an estimated $7.8 million next year. The plan comes the day after the council shot down Mayor Jim Suttle's proposed entertainment tax on a 6-1 vote.

Bing: 'Nobody's protected' from city layoffs
Detroit News (08/19/09)
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing delivered a tough, sobering message: "nobody's protected" from layoffs given the city's precarious finances, including his appointees and police and fire fighters. The mayor wouldn't say when these cuts will occur but told reporters that nearly 1,000 pink slips to other city employees have already gone out and will take effect by September 26. "Public safety is something that's critical for the citizens here in the city of Detroit," he said. "They will be the last ones I'll look at for cuts but everybody's on the table."

Temple Terrace firefighters give up raise to help with deficit
Tampa Bay Business Journal (08/19/09)
With Temple Terrace facing a $1.2 million budget shortfall, its fire fighters have decided to forego raises as part of a collective bargaining agreement. Temple Terrace Professional Firefighters Local 3582, the union representing the city’s 45 fire fighters, said a new two-year deal will keep pay scales the same as the previous year. An option allows both sides to explore wage increases after the first year. “We did our homework, and we felt it was in everybody’s best interest to find common ground,” said Walt Rogers, union president.

Firefighters take pay cut to save jobs
Dayton Daily News (08/14/09)
The city’s firefighters’ union has agreed to pay cuts and a salary freeze that will save six from layoffs. City council has signed off on the deal, but some technical issues with the union contract still must be worked out, said Jim Percival, city manager. The city continues to work with its other unions to try to avoid losing another 14 positions, a combination of five police and nine city workers, that were targeted for cuts because of declining revenue. Joe Mullikin, firefighters' union president, said his union agreed to five percent pay cuts and to postpone a 3 percent raise from 2011 until 2012.

36 cops, 22 firefighters told jobs in jeopardy
Colorado Springs Gazsette (08/12/09)
Three dozen police officers and 22 fire fighters have been told they will lose their jobs if the Colorado Springs City Council holds firm on its plan to cut the departments' budgets next year to cover a projected $23 million shortfall.

City budget proposal calls for 47 layoffs
Findlay Courier (08/12/09)
Findlay could lose 47 of 370 city workers, including 20 fire fighters, if 2010 budget cuts that administrators propose are implemented. The proposed gouge out of the general fund would also force the closing of two of the city's four fire stations. Administrators compiled a $21.2 million general fund budget for next year, or several million dollars less than this year's budget, by averaging the amounts each department received from 2006 through 2008, which were termed "more normal years" that didn't involve budget cuts.

As many as 50 city jobs may be lost in budget cuts
Anchorage Daily News (08/11/09)
A broad round of layoffs that could affect as many as 50 Anchorage city employees is in the works and probably will be announced by the end of this week. The first hint of the job cuts came in an e-mail to fire fighters from acting Chief Doug Schrage. But Mayor Dan Sullivan said other departments also will lose jobs as the city closes a new $9 million deficit in this year's budget.

Firefighters union votes to forgo raise
Peoria Journal Star (08/10/09)
Fire fighters have voted to forgo their scheduled 3.5 percent raise for 2010, Peoria Firefighters Union Local 50 announced in a news conference at City Hall. Union President Tony Ardis said the city's 196 fire fighters were asked to vote on the issue. Among union members who cast ballots, it was 90-25 - well in excess of a 3-1 ratio - in favor of keeping their 2009 pay rate in 2010 amid the city's projected budget shortfall of $10 million.

Oak Lawn weighs more job cuts to help relieve financial crunch
Chicago Tribune (08/07/09)
Oak Lawn, faced with a $2.5 million deficit, could lay off as many as three dozen employees, including 11 fire fighters, by the end of the month if the municipality's six employee unions refuse to make concessions to help ease the budget crunch. The loss of 11 fire fighters would bring to 14 the number the village has laid off over the last year and a half in an effort to save money. Also under a plan to shrink the village's deficit, the number of fire fighters assigned to each fire truck would be reduced from four to three.

Firefighters forgo raise for cost-of-living
Ashland Daily Tidings (08/05/09)
Ashland fire fighters have joined three other groups of city government employees in agreeing to contracts that don't include cost of living adjustments. Two employee groups that had contracts that weren't up for negotiation declined to forego the raises, known as COLAs, that are meant to keep wages in line with inflation. Many consumer price indices show that the cost of living is flat or down because of the recession. The City Council ratified a new labor agreement with the Ashland Firefighters Association that included no COLA for this year.
The agreement also includes no COLA for 2010 unless a consumer price index in January 2010 shows that the cost of living went up at least 4 percent between January 2009 and January 2010. Fire fighters could get a COLA of 3 to 5 percent in the third year of the contract based on any consumer price index increases.

Lehigh firefighters cutting grass to cut costs
2 News Online (08/04/09)
The tough economy is forcing fire fighters in Lehigh to do additional work like cutting the grass to help make up for a 49-percent budget shortfall. The $26,000 a year lawn service contract for the fire district was dropped. So now, rookie fire fighters spend some of their time landscaping and cutting the lawn around the firehouse.

L.A. Fire Department begins cutting rescue, paramedic services
Los Angeles Times (08/04/09)
The Los Angeles Fire Department has begun shutting down rescue units and eliminating paramedic field supervisors as part a controversial cost-cutting plan that officials say will increase response times during life-threatening emergencies. The plan goes into full effect August 5, when 15 fire trucks and six ambulances are pulled out of service daily on a rotating basis citywide. Fire fighters assigned to those units will be used to staff vacancies, which for years have been filled by calling in other employees on overtime. As part of the effort to close a $56.5-million budget shortfall, three additional ambulances in Sylmar, Hollywood and East Hollywood were closed indefinitely. Those ambulances, staffed by fire fighters for 12-hour periods, were used to free up busy paramedic ambulances by responding to lower-level emergencies. Also eliminated indefinitely were three slots for captains who supervise paramedics in the field and serve as emergency room liaisons. Many contend that move is dangerous. “You’re going to compromise care for a lot of people and you’re potentially going to kill some people,” said Bill Ramsey, a 30-year department paramedic. Fire Chief Douglas Barry said last month that the cutbacks would create longer response times for both medical emergency and fire calls, but he declined to speculate if that could lead to an increase in deaths. “As you know, with emergency medical calls as well as fire calls, sometimes minutes, even seconds can make the difference on success,’’ Barry said. The fire department must still come up with an estimated $13 million in budget cuts to cover its shortfall.

Greeley police, firefighters make sacrifice for the greater good
The Tribune (08/02/09)
As budget crunches and diminishing revenues continue to plague public agencies across the nation, more and more civil servants are being asked to make sacrifices. Some, like state employees, have taken furloughs, or unpaid days off. Positions have gone unfilled, making more work for fewer employees. Some have lost benefits, or are being asked to pay greater portions of health insurance. Others, like the Greeley police officers and fire fighters, won't be getting raises next year. The difference is, police and fire fighters didn't have to forgo their raises, like many of their municipal peers already have. They had a choice, and still chose to give up raises for the good of Greeley. Both fire fighter and police unions had raises written into their binding contracts with the city. They could have forced the municipality to honor that contract, placing the city in even greater financial straits. Still, after studying the state of the city of Greeley budget, both organizations agreed to go without raises to help balance the budget.

Cuts Planned to L.A. City Firefighters and Paramedics
KTLA (08/01/09)
Fire officials in Los Angeles plan to cut the number of fire fighters and paramedics on city streets by 87 positions to help cover a $39 million budget deficit. The cutbacks, called "brownouts," will remove 28 fire department workers from the current roster of 1,017, a cut of three percent. Fifteen fire trucks, nine transportation ambulances, three paramedic support teams and one battalion chief will also be removed. However, no fire stations will be closed, and all paramedic ambulances will be maintained, according to deputy fire chief Emilio Mack. Union officials have blasted the cutbacks, saying extended response times will hurt civilians. Similar brownouts that were tried in 1991 nearly killed at least one woman in Hollywood who had to wait for paramedics, according to Pat McOsker, head of United Firefighters of Los Angeles.

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