Naples Daily News
COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — While the discussion of Collier County fire district consolidation carries over into 2011, two firefighter unions have already agreed to merge.
Unions from East Naples Fire Control and Rescue District, Local 2396, and Golden Gate Fire Control and Rescue District, Local 3182, voted this month to team up to form a new union.
The Collier Firefighter Paramedics union, which is still pending approval by the International Association of Fire Fighters, will be the second-largest Collier fire union, behind the North Naples Professional Fire Fighter and Paramedics, Local 2297.
The move, said Mike Leal, vice president of Local 2396, is mostly about unifying efforts for community outreach and political advocacy.
“We do the same stuff,” he said. “We fight the same battles. Now, we can do it together.”
The union merger is not necessarily a signal two districts will also merge.
Nolan Sapp, an assistant fire chief for Golden Gate, said there are currently no consolidation talks between East Naples and Golden Gate fire districts.
But Leal said it could make the process easier for the unions if that merge did occur.
Both existing unions raise money and supplies for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, St. Matthew’s House, breast cancer awareness and holiday toy drives. Leal said the new union will have a larger presence in those community efforts.
They will also have a larger political voice, said Chris Tobin, president of Local 3182. He said that with shrinking tax revenues, firefighters will need to be out reminding people of their important role in the community.
Under the new merger, Tobin said, union contracts will still be separated by district.
Sapp said the union merger will have little change on how the two departments run.
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