Provisions that switch hours and fire paramedics without certification broke the deal for union workers.
By JENNIFER FARRELL
Published April 24, 2004
CLEARWATER - For the third time since July, the city's firefighter union has overwhelmingly rejected a proposed three-year contract deal negotiated by union leaders and the city administration.
The vote was 116-33.
The failed agreement would have paid firefighters a retroactive 2 percent raise, plus raises of 3 percent this year and 3 percent next year.
But the deal also included two controversial provisions that rankled union membership, according to John Lee, president of Local 1158.
The first was a measure that would have allowed administrators to switch firefighters' schedules from their normal 24-hour shifts, 10 days a month, to 40-hour weeks, spread over five days. Administrators said they would have used the provision for special projects, such as training. But union members feared the city could have imposed the switch as punishment, which administrators denied.
The other measure would have added language allowing administrators to fire paramedics who lose or voluntarily drop their paramedic certifications. Currently, the state certification is included in the job description for paramedics. Those who want a demotion to serve as firefighters must get permission from the fire chief.
Union leaders say demotion should be an option to combat burnout in the high-stress paramedic job.
But the city, which is having trouble recruiting paramedics and fears a shortage, says the provision merely transfers existing job description requirements into the contract.
"We can't just let people demote to non-paramedic class when we need paramedics," said Allen DelPrete, the city's manager for benefits and labor relations.
City officials are frustrated that another proposed deal approved by union leaders was rejected by rank and file.
"I'm not quite sure what people want," Mayor Brian Aungst said. "I thought it was a very good contract that we offered."
Firefighters have worked since October 2002 without a contract. After nearly two years of bitter talks that reached an impasse when a federal mediator failed to bring both sides together, no one is sure how, or when, the standoff will end.
In February, the union rejected a deal that would have paid retroactive $1,000 bonuses, plus raises of 2 percent this year and 3 percent next year. Also included was a concession to a union demand to reduce the department's 56-hour workweek. Union members voted the deal down 139-2.
In July, union members overwhelmingly rejected a tentative three-year deal that included annual 2 percent pay increases. The vote was 141-7.
Lee said a three-year deal reached last year with the police union, which included raises of 3, 4 and 4 percent, highlights the unfairness of the city's offers to the fire union.
"Give us what the cops got," he said.
The firefighters union, he said, wants equal treatment.
"I don't think they're going to take the table scraps," he said. "They've made that pretty clear."
City officials, though, said they compromised on salary, only to get criticism on the workweek and paramedic certification issues.
"I don't think the issue this time was money," city human resources director Joe Roseto said. "Unfortunately, it's always something different."
