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The city will drop a reprimand from a union leader's record and the union will drop its unfair labor practice charge.
By BRADY DENNIS
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 17, 2001
ZEPHYRHILLS -- A last-minute settlement Thursday ended an eight-month dispute during which the Zephyrhills Professional Firefighters Union filed an unfair labor practice charge against the city.
The complaint stemmed from a Jan. 8 meeting in which City Manager Steve Spina asked for a written set of requests from the union.
Union vice president Jim Kuhn told Spina the union's demands already had been discussed at previous meetings, and making a list would be a waste of time.
Kuhn then said the meetings were turning into a "circle jerk."
Spina took offense to the comment, ended the meeting and told the firefighters to leave. The next day, Kuhn received a written reprimand for his actions.
In April, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the state Public Employee Relations Commission. The charge alleged that Spina had violated the union members' right to free speech.
The commission initially rejected the charge twice, and the union appealed the decision both times. Finally, on June 19, the commission granted the union a hearing, which was scheduled to take place this morning at 9.
The settlement wiped out any need for the hearing.
As part of the compromise, the city will drop the reprimand from Kuhn's record. Meanwhile, the union agreed to drop its unfair labor practice charge. Each side will pay its own attorney fees.
Throughout the dispute both sides insisted they wouldn't back down.
The union demanded that the city drop the discipline against Kuhn, publicly admit Spina's wrongdoing and pay for all attorney fees.
Spina insisted he had done nothing wrong and said that Kuhn's comment was unwarranted and inappropriate in a professional setting.
On Thursday, both sides did an about-face, saying the settlement was the best thing for the city.
"I'd rather do this and walk away with half a loaf than go through everything and probably have more hard feelings," Spina said. "My main goal was that we need to have a certain decorum. I feel I made my point."
Union president Shawn Baptist said he also could live with the settlement.
"The bottom line is we got the (reprimand) removed from Jim's file, which is what we wanted to begin with," Baptist said. "It should have been settled a long time ago, because it wasted taxpayer money.
"But Steve did what he thought he had to do. I don't hold any feelings against him for it."
The city and the union currently are involved in a new round of negotiations. Both Spina and Baptist said they hope the negotiations will conclude by the end of September, in time for City Council members to approve the budget.