By Mark Schlueb
The Orlando Sentinel
ORLANDO, Fla. — Mayor Buddy Dyer is locked in a political stalemate with Orlando’s firefighters, who say they’re facing more pressure — and more layoffs — than other city workers.
With five weeks left before a budget vote that would lay off 46 firefighters, formal negotiations aimed at saving those jobs have broken down. Dyer, who has always enjoyed union support, now faces the unpopular prospect of giving pink slips to firefighters and mothballing eight ambulance squads.
“It is a difficult political choice, but that’s the reality of the financial situation we’re in,” Brie Turek, the mayor’s chief of staff, said Wednesday.
Dyer had proposed laying off 222 employees from across the city work force to avoid a deficit projected at $41.5 million next year. But federal stimulus money saved Police Department jobs, and the offer of a corporate-style severance package enticed others to leave voluntarily.
Now the revised layoff list is down to 68 — all but 22 of them firefighters, who are among the most popular civil servants in the eyes of voters.
City administrators met last week with fire-union leaders to negotiate a wage freeze and cuts in benefits for all firefighters, with the goal of saving enough money to avoid any layoffs from their department. Earlier, the union had agreed to open its contract and signaled a willingness to give up raises and other benefits as long as it would save everyone’s job.
But the heated talks ended with no agreement, and no more meetings have been scheduled. Union President Steve Clelland said firefighters are angry that the three other unions that represent city employees each have refused to open their contracts and will still receive pay raises next year, while largely avoiding layoffs.
“The unions that told the administration to go pound sand aren’t losing anything,” Clelland said. “We’re the only union to open its contract, only to find out we’re the only union being asked to give up anything.”
Contracts negotiated last year would give city employees raises of about 4 percent in 2010.
Dyer has said he would rather freeze pay than lay off workers, but he can’t change the union contracts without their consent.
For the nonunion appointees directly under his control, Dyer has ordered a wage freeze and unpaid weeklong furloughs that together amount to a pay cut of about 6 percent.
Firefighters are now the only employees being asked to choose between raises and their colleagues’ jobs.
“Every other union is getting raises. It feels politically personal,” said Clelland, who began lobbying City Council members this week.
But city officials say the rest of the city work force has sacrificed, too.
Police are losing pay they now receive for showing up early for briefings and will pay more for the option of driving their patrol cars home.
Most of the workers who resigned to take a severance package didn’t have much choice; they would have been laid off otherwise. And the ones left behind will have to shoulder extra work because of a smaller work force.
With a deal with the union still out of reach, Dyer hopes to avoid laying off firefighters the same way he avoided laying off cops: with federal stimulus money.
The city plans to apply for a grant that would pay their salaries, but the program probably won’t be finalized before the City Council votes on the budget Sept. 21.
There’s a chance the union could agree to some limited concessions that would save enough money to delay layoffs for about two months, allowing more time for the federal money to come through.
In the meantime, the Fire Department is working on a plan to handle emergency calls with 46 fewer firefighters.
Even if it comes to that, Orlando would continue to have fire service superior to most other cities, Chief Administrative Officer Byron Brooks said.
“We still will have response times and a deployment schedule that are among the best in the country,” Brooks said.
Copyright 2009 Sentinel Communications Co.