Fire Union Negotiations

We are currently in the process of negotiating a new contract with the fire union. We have quickly moved from negotiations to fact finding (a mediated process) because there did not seem to be any true intent by the union representatives to negotiate with the township. Typically we agree not to discuss the issues being negotiated during the process by signing an agreement setting out the ground rules. But IAFF Local 2243 declined to sign on to the ground rules this time. So I am free to talk about our negotiations.

Union negotiations are always a give-and-take process; we ask for stuff, they ask for stuff, both sides compromise and find something in the middle. As I said with the police negotiation, this is not a win-win situation; everyone thinks they lost something. Which probably mean we have a decent compromise.

But in the case of the fire department, I was truly astonished by the extent of their initial demands. I won't go into line-by-line detail, but will outline two items. First, from a straight financial standpoint, the requests are astronomical to the extent that the 1.25 mill levy that was passed earlier this year will not even begin to pay for the monetary demands. In fact, their demands would have the department in the red by over $8 million in the next three years, a situation that would require a 2.3 mill levy be passed next year just to keep them solvent for three years.

Even the seemingly non-financial issues their proposal calls for can lead to significant cost increases to the township. The union has requested that the firefighters be restricted to performing only 'traditional' firefighting or emergency medical care. When asked, the union declined to define the phrase 'traditional', but I think it would be easy to interpret this to mean they don't want to mow the lawns, shovel the sidewalks, or maintain and clean the living areas, etc. Now, some will say "but you don't make police officers do that stuff" which is true. But when we pay a police officer 8 hours to work, they are performing police duties for those 8 hours. When we pay a firefighter for a 24 hour shift, we are in essence paying them to be available, because (thankfully) they are not actually performing firefighting or EMS duties for the whole 24 hours. So while we are paying them to be available, they are eating, and sleeping, and working out. I don't think it is unreasonable that they do other stuff like sweeping floors, mowing lawn, and doing dishes while waiting for a call to come in. If they don't clean and maintain the fire stations, we'll be forced to hire someone to do this work for them.

Certainly, the township asked for numerous items as this process began a few weeks ago. Most important, we asked for contract restructuring that will allow us to implement the plans as put forth by the Fire Chief during the levy campaign. Without these changes, the fire levy will not last the 5 years projected.

So while we are taking steps to make sure the fire levy fulfills the pledges made to our community, the fire union is looking for more money ... to the tune of twice what the voters of Sylvania already agreed to this year. In fact, it is even more money than the operating levy which was turned down 4-to-1 back in 2005.

We'll keep working to negotiate a union contract that is financially sustainable and provides a department structure that allows us to implement the fire levy plans. It may take a while, but it's our obligation to the community who relied upon the chief's plan in voting for the fire levy.