By Vivian Austin
The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
GAUTIER, Miss. — Council members believe they are being prudent by waiting until a new city manager is hired to start negotiations on a new contract with firefighters, but the president of the local firefighters’ union disagrees.
“The longer this drags out the lower the morale is going to sink in the city as far as the fire department,” Lt. Marshall Robinson told the council during a meeting this week. “I just felt you all as elected officials of this city need to understand that.”
Councilwoman Ginger Lay had asked that the issue be added to the council’s agenda for the next few weeks to emphasize the officials’ concern and intention to help the fire department personnel achieve their goal of equal pay with city police officers.
“I want this on our agenda so the new city manager will realize that this is an important issue for us and that we don’t want to just forget about it,” she said.
Mayor Pete Pope and Councilman Hurley Ray Guillotte agreed with Lay and said the issue needs to be addressed. Guillotte pushed the officials to do something shortly. Both said they were “ready to vote on it tonight.”
Robinson said he was disappointed by the council’s decision to wait because the council and Interim City Manager Bernie Phillips are aware of certain details in the firefighters’ contract. He said the union gave notice to the former city manager at least 120 days prior to the 2008 budget hearings.
“We feel like the city is not fulfilling its responsibilities under that contract to, in good faith, negotiate with us,” said Robinson.
Councilman Don Hansford said the city gave raises in the new $19.7 million budget to firefighters and police officers. The city is meeting its obligation, and the officials have to be careful to avoid conflict with other city workers, he said.
The contract “states that the city acknowledges that the goal of the (firefighters’) association is parity. So we have acknowledged that that is the goal so we should work toward it. And I think that’s what we’re trying to do. It won’t happen overnight,” said Hansford.
Copyright 2007 The Sun Herald