By Phil Fairbanks
Buffalo News (New York)
Copyright 2007 The Buffalo News
All Rights Reserved
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo firefighters said “no” Sunday to a proposed contract that would have lifted a wage freeze in return for employee givebacks — a defeat for Mayor Byron W. Brown and the control board.
The vote kills a deal that would have given firefighters their first raise in five years and marked a turnaround in the acrimonious relationship between labor and management at City Hall.
More than 600 of the city’s 700 firefighters turned out to vote down a deal that sparked anger because of the concessions it required and of the way Brown and the control board handled the contract in recent weeks.
“The membership has spoken,” Joseph Foley, union president, said Sunday. “And more than anything else, I think it was because of the major changes in health care.”
Foley would not divulge the vote count but told The Buffalo News the “no” vote was overwhelming.
The five-year tentative contract, reached last month, would have raised most firefighters’ salaries to $68,263, a 33 percent increase, by 2011, but cut their health insurance, vacation and overtime benefits.
“It’s what’s in the deal,” said one firefighter when asked why he voted against the proposed contract. “It’s also what the control board did and what the mayor did.”
The vote, a resounding rejection of the much ballyhooed deal, came just 10 days after the union called off an earlier vote on the contract.
Firefighters, many of them eager to voice their discontent with the city and the control board, pushed for the vote after union leaders postponed the initial vote scheduled for last week.
The delay stemmed from the union’s contention that the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority — the state board overseeing city finances — strayed from the contract when it approved a measure allowing the agreement to take effect.
Brown, who had pushed for approval, repeated his pledge Sunday to move on to other negotiations with other city unions.
“I continue to work hard to honor my pledge to lift the wage freeze on city workers,” he said in a statement. “This agreement was negotiated in good faith and provided our firefighters with an opportunity to lift the wage freeze. Unfortunately, they chose not to.”
Under the deal, firefighters would have received an initial raise of $5,000, with another 3.4 percent raise retroactive to Feb. 1 and a second 3.4 percent raise in July.
On top of that, they would have received 3.4 percent increases in each of the following four years.
The downside for union members were the givebacks, most notably contract changes that erode health insurance benefits. Others complained about changes in work schedules, overtime and regulations involving firefighters injured on duty.
“I voted no because we all make commitments, and the city is not living up to its word,” said one 10-year veteran of the department. Like every other rank-and-file member who spoke to The News, he asked that his name not be used.
Another firefighter who was interviewed before the vote was counted said he wouldn’t be surprised if the deal went down in flames.
“I think they’re all going to turn it down,” he said of the membership.
When the control board voted to approve the contract last week, dozens of union members in the audience booed. Many of them called it the worst deal they had ever seen.
Foley, who negotiated and signed the agreement, accused the control board of “sneaky tactics” and said the board’s approval resolution included wording that would have required the union to waive its right to relief in all pending lawsuits.
“By using slick legalese, the control board was attempting to eliminate our ability to proceed with our ongoing lawsuits,” he said in a Feb. 2 letter to his members.
Union leaders say the contract settles some lawsuits but not all, including one that could result in firefighters receiving back pay for 2002 and 2003.
City officials insist the wording is not legally binding and said nothing in the board’s measure changes the tentative contract between the city and the firefighters.
Foley, when asked what happens next, said the union is willing to sit with city officials and work out a new deal.
“We’re still here and we’re still doing our job,” he said Sunday. “We’re going to move on and we’re going to try and negotiate a new contract.”