Lockport Union-Sun
LOCKPORT, N.Y. — Just a week after the Lockport Common Council voted to lay off nine employees, members of the Lockport Professional Firefighters Association union voted against accepting a retirement incentive.
And that led to approval of a last-minute resolution to lay off five firefighters during Wednesday’s Common Council meeting.
The firefighter union voted unanimously Tuesday against the incentive offer that was presented in writing Oct. 10 by Mayor Anne McCaffrey.
“The mayor made it clear on Oct. 6 that this was a take it or leave it deal not subject to negotiation,” Kevin Watier said. “If we refused, she was going to layoff five more firefighters.”
He said 35 of 38 union members were present, including all members who face “these threatened layoffs.”
“The membership feels that if the mayor wants contractual changes she should negotiate them and not resort to extortion,” Watier said.
The city offered an incentive for up to five members to take who have worked in the department for more than 20 years. Those members must provide written notice of their intent to retire by Monday and retire by Nov. 20.
Those who wished to retire would receive an incentive payment of $1,000 per year for each year they served. The maximum incentive payment to each member is $30,000. Those payment and contractually mandated leave time would be made to the retiring member over a four to 10 year period.
Payments would begin in March 2015 and continue to be paid each March.
Eligible members taking the incentive and their spouse, as of Oct. 15, would continue to receive fully paid medical insurance from the city until they become Medicare eligible.
In exchange, the incentive parameters would require the fire department to remove the manning clause from their collective bargaining agreement and end all pending arbitrations, grievances and court cases regarding manning, staffing and equipment usage.
The city would also withdraw its application to stay arbitration pending in Niagara County Supreme Court.
This is the third retirement incentive offered by the city.
When the city was notified about the union’s decision, the council decided to act immediately on the layoffs. An emergency fire board meeting was also called for Wednesday night.
“The Council and I believe this would have been a win, win for the city and the union,” McCaffrey said. “The city would have been able to reduce the number of firemen to the desired level of eight men per platoon and eliminate grievances. The union would have been able to obtain up to a $30,000 incentive for up to five firefighters as well fully paid health insurance for the firefighter as well as the spouse to age 55 and maintain employment for the firefighters with fewer years of service.”
McCaffrey also addressed comments made “many times over the past few months” by firefighters who stated she refused to negotiate the contract with the firefighter union. She said she wanted to make it clear that shortly after taking office, the union declared an impasse, meaning the union feels they were too far apart from the city to come to an agreement on their own. This issue will be mediated in November, in hopes contract negotiations can continue.
Before the council vote, several members of the public questioned the procedure of Wednesday’s decision, stating normally the fire board acts, then makes a recommendation to the Common Council. Then the council votes.
Corporation Counsel John Ottaviano said the city’s charter or state law does not indicate an order of how these actions should be done. The council is tasked at amending the budget as needed and the fire board is tasked with the hiring and firing of the department and must decide which five employees will be laid off and when their last day will be. Neither can be completed without the other, Ottaviano said.
According to the resolution passed, the five layoffs are effective immediately. These layoffs come at a time when the city is working to fix its fiscal hardships and balance the 2014 budget.
The Common Council unanimously passed the resolution.
The fire board met in executive session Wednesday night but took no action concerning the layoffs.
Like the layoffs from earlier this month, the employees would receive two weeks paid employment as severance.
Copyright 2014 Lockport Union-Sun
All Rights Reserved