By Monica Polanco
Hartford Courant (Connecticut)
Copyright 2006 The Hartford Courant Company
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — The common council on Wednesday did not take any action against an arbitration award that settled 23 points of contention between the city and the fire department’s union.
Council members could vote only to reject the award handed to the city last month by an arbitration panel, several council members said. Two-thirds of the council present during a regular or special meeting must vote against it in order for the award to be rejected.
The council has until Friday to reject the award, but that’s unlikely, council President Suzanne Bielinski said. Council members did not seem to reach a consensus to seek a vote to oppose the award when they discussed the item in executive session Wednesday, said Bielinski, a Democrat.
“If it was going to be done, it would have been done tonight,” she said.
The award spells out the terms of the fire department’s new contract, which ends June 30, 2008. The department has been operating under the old contract, which expired on June 30, 2003, and was extended into 2004. Firefighters have not received a pay raise since the contract expired.
The new four-year contract includes a salary increase retroactive to July 1, 2004. Firefighters will receive a 2 percent pay raise during the first year of the contract, 2.5 percent in the second year and about 3 percent during the last two years, said Ed Preece, president of the firefighters’ union.
The arbitration panel awarded 17 out of 23 negotiation issues to the city, but withheld a key piece — a cost-saving measure proposed by the city to reduce the number of firefighters on trucks and other vehicles.
The fire department currently staffs engine and ladder trucks with at least four people each and rescue units with at least three people. The city wanted a three-person minimum on engine trucks and a four-person minimum each on rescue and ladder trucks. The union argued against the proposal, saying it would jeopardize firefighter safety.
Republican Minority Leader Louis Salvio railed against the provision that allows the fire department to continue the current staffing levels, saying the city has paid about $3 million in overtime costs for the past six years to support those staffing levels due to more than a dozen vacancies.
“I think this is the biggest tragedy that has been inflicted on the city of New Britain in a number of years,” he said before the meeting.
Bielinski countered that firefighters are paid overtime only if they work 182 hours in 24 days and are otherwise paid their regular salaries — even when they work extra shifts.