By Bruce Eggler
Times-Picayune
Copyright 2007 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company
New Orleans firefighters and Mayor Ray Nagin’s administration will be back in court Friday, continuing their long-running battle over pay.
Two major phases of the conflict were supposed to have been wrapped up last week, when the administration said hundreds of firefighters would begin receiving both a 10 percent across-the-board raise and long-overdue individually calculated longevity raises mandated by state law.
But when the firefighters checked their bank accounts Friday, many reported they had received much smaller raises than they had expected, and a sizable number said their pay had shrunk.
After listening to the firefighters’ complaints Monday, Civil District Judge Kern Reese, who has been overseeing the longevity pay issue, set a hearing for Friday on how the city calculated the new pay rates for about 30 firefighters he randomly selected.
Reese had threatened in early November to hold the city in contempt unless it implemented the longevity raises “immediately.”
Nick Felton, president of Fire Fighters Association Local 632, said the administration’s latest actions showed contempt for the judge’s orders and should lead to sanctions. He alleged that Nagin is conducting a “vendetta” against firefighters.
“He wants to get his pound of flesh, so to speak. What other reason could there be?” Felton said Monday. “He’s a man upset with the firefighters, and he’s going to make sure he takes his revenge on us.”
Ceeon Quiett, a spokeswoman for Nagin, dismissed Felton’s charges.
“The facts reveal that the mayor has followed the law in ensuring that the judgment be honored, and the mayor will continue to follow the law and treat the firefighters fairly as he does those in the Police Department, EMS and all first responders,” Quiett said.
Starting in the late 1960s, state law has mandated raises of 2 percent a year for most firefighters. The city failed to implement those raises for many years while it waged an unsuccessful court battle to overturn the law.
The separate 10 percent raise, ordered by the City Council and city Civil Service Commission late in 2006 over Nagin’s objections, is not at issue before Reese. But observers have questioned how any firefighters could end up receiving less money than before when they supposedly were getting a minimum 10 percent raise.
Chief Deputy City Attorney Joseph DiRosa Jr., the city’s chief negotiator in the pay dispute, said last week he is “absolutely confident” that all firefighters’ pay was calculated correctly. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
DiRosa said earlier that because paying the state-mandated longevity raises involved a switch from city to state longevity rules, it was possible that some firefighters did wind up making less money than before, even when the 10 percent raise was included.
Because of credits granted to the city under court judgments ordering implementation of the longevity raises, “the practical effect is that some (firefighters) may have been better off under the (city) civil service longevity schedule,” DiRosa said.