By Beau Yarbrough
The San Bernardino County Sun
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — The union representing San Bernardino’s firefighters sued the city in a pair of lawsuits on Thursday and Friday, alleging city officials are violating San Bernardino’s charter in an ongoing pay dispute.
San Bernardino City Professional Firefighters first threatened to sue the city over this issue in October, after the city imposed pension changes over firefighters’ objections. San Bernardino is the only city in the state that bases its police and firefighter pay on the average of 10 similarly sized cities.
In a press release issued by the union Friday afternoon, SBCPF President Jeff English is quoted as saying the city’s decision is a “slap in the face” of residents who voted against changing the section of the city’s charter that sets out how the city’s firefighters and police are paid. The approved contract also included the closure of a fire station and the elimination of so-called constant staffing.
“We want to stop these violations and ensure that city leaders follow the laws that they have pledged to uphold,” the press release quotes English as saying.
In the suits, filed on Thursday and Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Riverside, the union asks the court to roll back last fall’s changes.
City Manager Allen Parker hadn’t seen the lawsuit as of Friday afternoon, but was not surprised to hear it had been filed at long last.
“They threatened to do this, and it was just a matter of time,” Parker said. “They have been unhappy with the rulings of the bankruptcy court all along, and the bankruptcy court judge is the one who approved the action, so they ought to be angry with the judge, not us.”
In fact, in September 2014, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Jury explicitly ruled that although the city could reject its existing contract with firefighters, she was not granting the city’s request to rule that they could impose a contract of their choosing.
Parker said city officials believed they were on firm legal ground before the October decision and remain so now.
“That was thoroughly discussed and obviously the council was appraised of (the legal basis) before we did it,” he said. “Everybody was in accord on it.”
Staff Writer Ryan Hagen contributed to this report.
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