By Jim Patrick
The Union Leader
GOFFSTOWN, N.H. — Selectmen have denied a grievance filed by the Professional Firefighters of Goffstown that sought pay increases for three firefighters in 2011. At its regular meeting Monday night, Vice Chairman Scott Gross moved to “respectfully decline” the request of the firefighters.
Attorneys for both the town and the firefighters’ union presented their cases to the Board of Selectmen at its meeting on Aug. 20, with the union claiming that three firefighters were due a step increase pay raise in 2011, from $16 an hour to $17.28, an 8-percent increase.
The firefighters, who were hired in 2010, reached the end of their one-year probationary period in 2011, when there was no contract, said Chairman David Pierce.
“The CBA and selectmen were unable to reach a new agreement to put to the voters in March, 2011,” Pierce said, leaving what the town calls a status quo agreement in place, where pay increases are essentially frozen.
“When we’re out of contract, we’ve always been told that in status quo, all wages are frozen,” said Town Administrator Sue Desruisseaux.
In 2012, voters approved a collective bargaining agreement retroactive to Jan. 1.
Attorney John Krupski, who spoke on behalf of the union, said the town violated the collective bargaining agreement and the status quo doctrine, indicating that three firefighters met their educational requirements during their probationary period in a pay scale he described as “hybrid.”
“We believe these individuals were entitled to, and are entitled to, their step increases,” Krupski said.
Attorney Paul Fitzgerald, legal counsel for the town, said there were two main points of disagreement.
One was that the time factor should come first when both time and training are required, and the second is that when an agreement expires, if no evergreen clause is in place that preserves step increases, they cannot and should not be granted.
Fitzgerald said the primary issue is time, and urged the board to deny the grievance in its entirety.
“The union’s view is that achievement of education and licensing requirements was sufficient to give the employees their step advancement,” Pierce said.
Pierce said the town’s position was that the two requirements — time and education requirements — are not an “and-or situation.”
Gross said both conditions needed to be met for the step increases to occur.
“It’s my opinion that the education doesn’t stand on its own,” he said.
Selectman Collis Adams agreed, and indicated that the firefighters’ contract supported his opinion.
“The word ‘and’ is in there, and that’s a small, but very important word,” he said.
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