By Stephanie Warsmith
The Akron Beacon Journal
AKRON, Ohio — Madison Carter, 4, took to her father’s lap with a child’s bliss.
Around her were men no longer able to go to work.
Her father, Akron firefighter Chad Carter, just finished his last day on the job. His layoff takes effect today, barely a year after he joined the department.
While every one of the city’s 38 laid-off firefighters expects to return to duty, when that day comes, no one knows.
Carter, a U.S. Army veteran and a single father with a mortgage, knows his circumstances can’t be controlled. But his optimism for a return to duty matches Madison’s youthful enthusiasm.
“Right now, I plan on coming back, and I look forward to that day,” Carter, 25, said, seated Wednesday evening with other firefighters at their union hall on Massillon Road. “In the meantime, I’m going to try to find whatever is going to make ends meet for me and my daughter.”
Carter is among 91 city employees who are out of jobs today — the victims of the city’s first layoffs in 27 years.
Akron issued notices to 201 city employees — over half going to police officers and firefighters — to address a projected budget shortfall of up to $8 million by the end of the year.
The city reached agreements on concessions with three of its five unions, including a pact police officers approved late Tuesday night, that eliminated layoffs in those unions.
Leaders of the 368-member fire union turned down an offer by the city to rescind layoff notices in exchange for a deferral of this year’s longevity payments — bonuses based on years of service — until 2012.
Phil Gauer, president of the fire union, said 12l,6p he thought it was likely the rookies would lose their jobs after the first of the year anyway. He said there were pluses to them being laid off now, including a federal discount on health insurance currently being offered to unemployed workers and stimulus funds Akron might be able to apply for this fall to bring back laid-off firefighters.
“It’s a hard day for all of us, but we think that, in the long haul, it’s the best thing for them,” Gauer said.
Curtis Bodis, 25, another laid-off firefighter, plans to look for paramedic or part-time firefighting work in other cities. He knows it won’t be easy.
“It’s obviously a struggle anytime something like this happens to you. The fact that the job market is so hard, it will probably be hard to go back out and get your feet wet again.
“But you got to do what you got to do, and the union did what it had to do.”
Mayor Don Plusquellic said he is “ashamed” of the fire union for not accepting the city’s deal to save the rookies’ jobs.
“It’s a crime,” he said. “I can’t tell you how disappointed I am — outraged.”
Plusquellic said the city did all it could, including buyouts and voluntary and mandatory furloughs, to lessen the layoffs.
“I feel like we have done everything humanly possible,” said Plusquellic, who called this the “most miserable time” of his 22 years as mayor. He admitted to losing sleep and eating gallons of ice cream.
The other laid-off workers were 43 seasonals from the recreation department who would have lost their jobs Oct. 31; three blue-collar workers represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); and seven non-bargaining employees.
The employees had the right to appeal their layoffs to the Civil Service Commission and will be on a call-back list for four years.
Employees who have been with the city for at least five years will have bumping rights, meaning they could take the job of a person with less seniority in another position.
The city then would give the bumped employee a 14-day layoff notice. That employee, in turn, also might have bumping rights.
Five of the laid-off employees — none who is a firefighter — requested bumping rights and might be able to exercise them, depending on whether they are qualified for other positions, Plusquellic said.
Diane Bair, a storekeeper in the motor equipment department who ordered parts for police cruisers, is one of the laid-off employees who might have bumping rights. She is concerned about being out of a job, especially because her husband, Rick, has been laid off since January from the Cleveland Clinic, where he worked as a nurse technician.
“I loved my job,” said Bair, whose 11-year-old daughter offered to baby-sit to raise money. “I loved the people I worked with. It’s hard. One door closes and, hopefully, another door will open.”
Bair, 51, a 16-year city employee and AFSCME member, wasn’t surprised her union overwhelmingly rejected an agreement that would have saved her and two other employees from layoffs for a longevity deferral. She said the refrain she heard most often was, “It’s a contract year.”
“They weren’t willing to give up anything at this point,” she said.
AFSCME, which represents 460 blue-collar workers, and the police and fire unions soon will begin contract negotiations with the city.
Walter Savick, a laid-off non-bargaining employee in the motor equipment department, also might have bumping rights. He has been with the city for 19 years and was working as a manager, doing cost analysis.
“They are still talking about where I might be able to bump,” said Savick, 55, who was feeling sick and didn’t work Wednesday, his last day. “It’s very unnerving.”
Savick said it was difficult going through this process alone.
“People have made some of these layoff decisions with not a lot of conversation,” he said. “The unions can bargain. The nonbargaining employees cannot.”
The budget battle between the city and unions is expected to continue when negotiations start later this month with the three largest unions, whose contracts expire Dec. 31. The talks are expected to be difficult.
“We agreed to what we agreed to,” said Paul Hlynsky, president of the 461-member police union, referring to the agreement that eliminated layoffs. “Both sides would have dug in and our people would have suffered. That battle will be fought during negotiations.”
City leaders have said they will be looking for concessions to help Akron get through next year, when the economy might continue to founder.
“We took care of them when we had money, and now we’re asking them to sacrifice when we don’t,” Plusquellic said.
Copyright 2009 Akron Beacon Journal