Trending Topics

NY firefighters reject retirement incentive offer

Council president Joseph Kibler said he would get rid of all firefighters like a neighboring city that has a part-paid, part-volunteer fire department

The Buffalo News

LOCKPORT, N.Y. — The city’s firefighters announced Tuesday night that they had rejected the city’s retirement incentive offer, possibly setting the stage for the layoff of five more men.

In a news release, the Lockport Professional Fire Fighters Association accused Mayor Anne E. McCaffrey of “extortion.”

The terms of the deal McCaffrey offered Oct. 6 were that if five firefighters with at least 20 years of experience would retire by Oct. 20, the city would pay the five $1,000 a year for each year of service, with a $30,000 limit.

But in exchange, the mayor demanded that the union drop its many grievances, lawsuits, and state Public Employment Relations Board filings against the city, including challenges to the legality of last month’s abolition of the Fire Department’s ambulance service and an accompanying reduction in the minimum number of firefighters per shift.

According to a statement issued by Firefighter Kevin Watier, union secretary-treasurer, 35 of its 38 members attended a meeting Tuesday and voted unanimously against the offer.

“I thought they would. They’re just greedy,” Common Council President Joseph C. Kibler said when he learned the news from a reporter. “As far as I’m concerned, I’d get rid of all of them and get a deal like North Tonawanda.” That city has a part-paid, part-volunteer fire department.

The union statement said, “The mayor made it clear on Oct. 6 that this was a take-it-or-leave-it deal not subject to negotiation, and if we refused, she was going to lay off five more firefighters. … The membership feels that if the mayor wants contractual changes, she should negotiate them and not resort to extortion.”

The union said, “We ask the public, the Council and the Fire Board to demand that the mayor act in a fair manner and offer the incentive with no strings attached or negotiate in good faith a complete collective bargaining agreement that settles all issues, instead of subjecting the Fire Department to an additional five layoffs after having eight members laid off at the beginning of the year.”

The January layoff number was reduced to seven when one firefighter retired.

Kibler said the five additional layoffs won’t be on tonight’s Council agenda, but he said they’ll be discussed. “I’d vote for them,” Kibler said.

McCaffrey said last week that the deficit-ridden city needed to further reduce the fire staff because of its cash flow situation. Also, the Council last week voted 4-1 to lay off nine civilian employees.

Late last year, three senior policemen took $30,000 retirement incentives, but the police union, the Hickory Club Police Benevolent Association, had reached a new contract with the city. The fire union has not and is working under terms of a deal that expired at the end of 2012.

The police retirees were paid lump sums, but the fire retirees would have had to take their incentive payments over a period of four to 10 years.

Copyright 2014 The Buffalo News
All Rights Reserved

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU