By Tony Burchyns
The Vallejo Times Herald
BENICIA, Calif. — A months-long, bitter fight over salary and benefit cuts is expected to end this week with the City Council imposing a contract on firefighters.
But the bitterness may continue, with fire union officials threatening to open a legal battle over concessions the City Council is set to approve during a special council meeting beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“We offered more than our share in cuts in order to keep fire staffing strong and help balance the budget,” Benicia Firefighters Association President Todd Matthews said. “For some reason, the city wants to go deeper into our wallets instead.”
City officials, however, accused the firefighters union of failing to propose anything to guarantee the level of savings other public employee groups have agreed to in recent talks. For one thing, firefighters refused to offer any wage reductions in addition to other cuts to help close the city’s projected $1.7 million deficit.
The two sides declared an impasse in July, agreeing to enter mediation. But the union rejected the city’s final contract offer on Sept. 16, city officials said.
“There is no joy in taking these actions, but they are necessary to address the budget shortfall,” City Manager Brad Kilger said. The city “is not asking the firefighters to do more than any of the other bargaining groups,” he added.
The city is proposing lowering firefighters’ wages by nearly 2 percent and eliminating extra pay for working holidays, among other concessions. Firefighters also would have to pay more for their health and retirement plans. The proposed contract changes would net $256,000 in fixed, annual savings, city officials said.
The fire association, however, has accused the city of making a “harsh attack” on firefighters, who agreed to salary reductions and a new retirement plan last year.
Union officials also said the city rejected more than $600,000 in counter proposals offered by the union to help solve the city’s financial problems.
City officials, however, acting under the council’s direction in May to achieve a 6.8 percent compensation cut from each employee bargaining group, said the union’s proposals would not guarantee the necessary amount of ongoing savings.
Matthews said the association likely will file a grievance for breach of its original contract if the council imposes the salary changes.
Firefighter Jason Fein summed up the union’s bitter feelings coming out of the negotiations, saying “the people of Benicia are being subjected to a Wisconsin-style anti-worker campaign.”
City officials this week are taking a diplomatic tone, saying the hard concessions are “essential” to the city’s financial health.
“We admire and honor our firefighters,” Kilger said. “But the city must continue to deliver the services the people of Benicia depend upon.”
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