Oh, to have been a lawyer…
A while back, I told you about the troubles over in Lockport, New York. In a nutshell, the city and the union have been going back and forth over staffing levels for nearly four years. Back in October an arbitrator made a ruling in favor of the union and the city vowed to appeal it. Here’s an update on the story, again making me wish I had become an attorney…
The firefighters union is taking the city to court yet again in an on-going legal battle that screams “Happy New Year!” to the attorneys on both side of the skirmish.
This time, the Lockport Professional Firefighters Association needs to go to court to force the city to abide by the previous decision of an arbitrator. The arbitrator’s recent order directing the city to employ a minimum staffing level of 10 firefighters per shift has been appealed by the city (and by definition each taxpayer) and is now been petitioned to the state Supreme Court by the union. They are asking the court to “confirm” the arbitrators ruling and force the city to abide by it.
The grievance process began almost immediately when levels were reduced from 10 back in 2006. For nearly the past four years, the Lockport Fire Department has been working under a minimum staffing level of eight or nine per shift. Although no specific number of personnel is actually in the contract, the arbitrator, Dennis Campagna, had ruled the lower number violates a contract provision requiring the city to “man all equipment with adequate manpower to assure firefighters’ safety during duties.”
Follow the money.
I’ve often wondered about the decision to pay overtime vs. hiring enough people, purely from a cost view. In Lockport’s case, Fire Chief Tom Passuite had furnished numbers estimating that the city could slash 100 large from it’s annual budget simply by hiring the staffing necessary to both meet the arbitrator’s ruling as well as improve the safety of the department’s personnel.
Seems like a no-brainer. Again.
I’m drawn back to the recent post by FireGeezer where one fire chief did the math, the city saw the facts, and firefighters were hired.
Bing, bang, boom.
How many hundreds of thousands of dollars could be saved in similar situations all across the country?
Sadly, what may be prudent appears to take a back seat to other forces. The City of Lockport and the LPFA have a contentious history with other irons still glowing in the fire. The current Common Council members have allegedly said they want to pay neither $500K for the hiring nor $600K for the overtime, and the newly-elected members who will make up the 2010 Council body have already made it clear they plan to take a tougher stand ($$$) with the Union.
This should make the lawyers have a very happy and prosperous new year.
The taxpayers? Not so much.
-J
Also on Fire Daily…
- Arbitrator Rules Against City of Lockport NY – October 11, 2009
- 360 Burn Size Up of the Fire Web- 1/13/10 – January 13, 2010
- Will the Walls of Jericho Come Tumbling Down? – September 25, 2009
- Firehouse Expo in Balty! – July 20, 2010
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